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FOUR  SHORT  LECTURES 


ON 


THE    BOOK    OF 


THE  REVELATION 


By  BENJAMIN  DOUGLASS. 


CHICAGO 

1886. 


ADVICE  AS  TO  HOW  TO  READ  THE  BOOK  OF  THE 
REVELATION. 

1.  This  book,  as  all  Scripture,  should  be  interpreted  according  to  the 
plain  grammatical  and  literal  meaning  of  the  words  used,  giving  each 
word  the  exact  sense  it  bears  in  all  other  books. 

2.  The  book  is  not,  as  is  commonly  thought,  a  book  of  symbols, 
although  there  are  symbols  in  it.  It  should  be  read  as,  in  the  main,  a  lit- 
eral prophecy  of  events  to  transpire  in  a  future  period  closely  preceding 
and  following  the  return  of  Jesus  to  the  earth.  It  is  a  message  from  the 
ascended  Savior  pertaining  to  his  second  coming. 

3.  The  theory  that  a  day  means  a  year  must  be  rejected ;  and  the 
forty-two  months,  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days,  ten  days,  &e.,  be  re- 
garded as  simple  measures  of  time. 

4.  The  dispensation  in  which  we  are  living  is  non-prophetic  and  void 
time. 

•5.  Reject  the  idea  that  the  Eevelation  describes  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Chiu'ch  during  this  dispensation. 

6.  It  is  also  necessary  to  believe  that  in  the  mysterious  orderings  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  old  Eastern  Roman  Empire  is  to  become  resusci- 
tated. It  will  yet  be  an  attraction  such  as  our  California  was  in  1849,  and 
the  old  empire  become  re-existent,  old  cities  rebuilt,  and  called  by  their 
old  names,  Jkrusalem  and  Babylon  among  others,  and  they  will  meet 
with  great  worldly  prosperity  for  awhile.  This  will  probably  occur  in 
the  interval  between  the  coming  of  the  Lord  down  into  the  air  for  his 
saints  and  his  subsequent  descent  with  them  to  the  earth  in  judgment. 

7.  The  nineteenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  describes  two  divisions 
of  the  book  and  not  three,  as  is  inferred  from  our  English  New  Testa- 
ment. The  first  division  embraces  the  things  which  John  saw,  and  what 
they  signify,  contained  in  the  first  five  chapters.  The  second  division 
embraces  the  things  which  are  about  to  happen  after  these,  contained  in 
the  rest  of  the  book. 

8.  No  reference  to  rorERY  can  ])e  met  with  in  Scripture. 

9.  The  topic  of  the  book  being  the  second  coming,  it  saves  confusion 
to  know  that  there  are  two  stages  to  the  Advent :  First — the  Lord  comes 
down  into  the  air  for  the  purpose  stated  in  the  first  five  chapters.     Sec- 


4  The  Revelation. 

ondly — after  a  considerable  interval,  probably  forty  or  fifty  years,  he 
comes  visibly  to  earth,  as  seen  in  the  nineteenth  chapter. 

Thus,  undertaking  the  reading  of  the  book,  it  will  be  found  that 

10.  In  the  first  chapter,  John  is  described  as  being  transported  in 
vision  down  into  the  time  of  the  day  of  the  Lord,  and  he  has  a  vision  of 
the  Christ  as  he  is  then  to  appear  the  second  time,  and  of  events  then  to 
occur. 

11.  The  second  and  third  chapters  describe  a  visitation  of  the  Lord 
to  the  churches  then  existing,  as  they  will  then  need  advice  in  view 
of  the  terrible  temptations  to  follovv'  during  the  great  tribulation, 
i.  e.,  during  the  seven  years'  rule  of  the  Antichrist.  These  churches 
are  spoken  of  as  a  mystery,  which  could  not  be  spoken  of  existing 
churches.  Besides,  it  is  denied  that  there  was  a  church  at  Thyatira  until 
the  third  century ;  or  that  there  was  a  sect  of  Nicolaitanes  ;  or  a  martyr, 
"Antipas,"  in  those  days.  John  must  have  seen  the  second  and  third 
chapters  as  much  in  the  light  of  the  day  of  the  Lord  as  the  rest  of  the 
book.  The  fourth  and  the  fifth  chapters  describe  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  down  into  the  air,  his  gathering  the  ready  saints,  the  award  of  the 
title  deed  to  this  world,  and  his  subsequent  coronation. 

12.  From  the  opening  of  the  first  seal,  commencing  with  the  sixth 
chapter,  to  the  destruction  of  Babylon,  ending  with  chapter  xix.,  10, 
there  is  one  unmixed  and  uninterrupted  series  of  terrible  calamaties.  It 
is  the  seventieth  week  of  Daniel !  The  thirteen  cliapters  and  ten  verses 
comprehended  in  it  form  a  parenthesis  describing  the  events  of  its  seven 
years. 

13.  The  closing  verses  of  the  fifth  chapter  connect  naturally  with 
chapter  xix.,  11,  and  continue  the  history  describing  the  millennium 
through  chapter  twentieth. 

14.  The  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  chapters,  excepting  the  six- 
teen closing  verses,  relate  to  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
economy. 


LECTURE  FIRST. 

REVIEWING   THE   FIKST   FIVE   CHAPTERS. 

There  are  three  modes  of  interpreting  the  Book  of  the  Kevelation  : 
those  of  the  preterist ;  the  historical  interpreter ;  and  the  futurist.  The 
first  meets  with  no  favor  in  these  days.  It  was  hardly  as  much  as  thought 
of  in  the  days  of  primitive  Christianity ;  nor  was  it  even  promulgated  in 
anything  like  completeness  till  the  time  of  the  Jesuit  Alcasar  in  1614. 
It  has  lately,  liowever,  found  some  advocates  in  Germany,  and  the  late 
Moses  Stuart,  of  Andover,  Mass.,  held  to  the  view. 

The  second  is  that  by  whicli  the  book  is  generally  interpreted.  This, 
the  continuous  historical  system  of  interpretation,  may  be  dated  as  to 
its  commencement,  from  the  time  of  Abbot  Joachim,  about  1200. 

The  third  is  the  one  which  I  believe  to  be  scriptural.  It  was  the  view 
of  the  church  for  the  first  300  years  after  Christ,  and  the  change  from 
the  literal  to  the  figurative  and  historical  was  made  under  circumstances 
which  will  appear  presently.  The  time  in  which  John's  vision  was,  is,  as 
I  read  it,  that  yet  future  period  of  1000  years  which  is  denominated  "the 
day  of  the  Lord."  The  theme  of  the  book  is  the  coming  of  the  Lord  and 
the  events  attending  it,  all  of  which  will  be  compassed  within  the  life 
time  of  the  generation  then  living  (Matt,  xxiv.,34).  It  is  an  apocalypse 
of  the  Lord  Christ ;  and  not  an  apocalypse  of  the  human  history  of  the 
last  1800  years.  Let  us  seek  to  interpret  this  prophecy  in  the  natural 
sense,  without  the  aid  of  the  cumbrous  learning  that  has  been  heaped 
upon  this  book  only  to  obscure  its  meaning  in  e'fforts  to  make  it  teach 
that  which  the  literal  meaning  of  the  words  will  deny.  This  book,  as  all 
Scripture,  should  be  interpreted  according  to  the  plain  grammatical  and 
literal  meaning  of  the  words  used,  giving  each  word  the  exact  sense  it 
bears  in  all  other  books.  I  hold  it  to  be  a  canon  of  interpretation  that 
where  language  is  employed  in  a  figurative  sense,  in  Scripture,  it  will  be 
so  stated  in  the  context,  as  where  it  is  said  Rev.  xi.,  8,  "Which  spirit- 
ually is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,"  or  as  Jno.  vi.,  63,  "  The  words  that  I 
speak  unto  you  are  spirit,"  unless  it  be  manifest  without  such  explana- 
tion that  the  language  is  figurative,  as  where  it  is  said,  "  I  am  the  door." 
Alexander  Vinet  said,  "  Even  now  after  eighteen  centuries  of  Christianity 
we  may  be  involved  in  some  tremendous  error  of  which  the  Christianity 
of  the  future  will  make  us  ashamed."  I  think  the  prevalent  view,  the 
historical,  is  that  " tremendous  error"  which  the  future  will  certainly 
show  to  have  been  all  wrong  from  first  to  last.  The  chief  objection  which 
writers  have  made  to  the  futurist  view  has  been,  that  the  first  verse 
states  that  the  book  relates  to  things  which  must  "  shortly  "  come  to 
pass  ;  and  hence  they  have  referred  it  to  the  history  of  the  church  follow- 
ing closely  on  the  times  of  the  apostles;   but  if  the  "futurist"  view 


6  The  KEVEiiATioN. 

be  correct,  it  is  literally  true  that  from  the  coming  of  the  Lord  down 
into  the  air,  where  the  history  begins,  and  to  which  the  vision  refers, 
all  the  things  in  this  book  will  then  "shortly"  come  to  pass,  for  the 
time  is  then  "at  hand." 

Most  of  those  who  now  hold  to  the  future  view  generally  except  there- 
from the  first  three  chapters.  They,  therefore,  see  the  history  of  the 
Christian  church,  in  its  entirety,  briefly  sketched  in  the  second  and  third 
chapters.  This  is  partly  owing  to  their  accepting  the  current  reading  of 
the  nineteenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter.  But  it  may  be  rendered  so  as 
to  make  two  instead  of  three  divisions  of  time.  I  prefer  Dean  Alford's 
rendering,  and  accept  his  translation,  viz.,  "  Write  the  things  which  thou 
sawest,  and  what  things  they  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  come  to 
pass  hereafter. "  This  makes  but  two  divisions.  The  first  embraces 
the  matter  of  the  first  five  chapters,  and  the  second  the  series  of  visions 
embraced  in  what  follows. 

The  theory  that  a  day  means  a  year,  must  be  rejected  with  all  its  wild 
speculations ;  and  the  forty-two  montlis,  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days, 
ten  days,  etc..  become  simple  measures  of  time.  The  seals,  trumpets 
and  vials  do  not  x\m  parallel  and  terminate  together,  but  are  historical 
and  follow^  in  chronological  order. 

N'either  is  the  Book  of  the  Kevelation,  as  is  commonly  thought,  a  book 
of  symbols,  although  there  are  symbols  in  it.  It  should  be  read,  as,  in  the 
main,  a  literal  prophecy  of  events  to  transpire  in  a  future  period,  closely 
preceding  and  following  the  return  of  Jesus  to  the  earth.  It  is  a  message 
from  the  ascended  Savior  pertaining  to  his  coming. 

The  book  may  be  divided  into  four  parts. 

1.  Embracing  the  events  to  happen  in  that  unmeasured  period 
which  comes  in  between  the  descent  of  the  Lord  into  the  air — forty  years 
more  or  less,  probably — and  the  commencement  of  the  seventieth  week 
of  Daniel's  prophecy.    It  comprises  the  first  five  chapters. 

2.  The  occurrences  of  the  seven  years  of  great  tribulation.  This 
period  is  divided  into  two  halves.  The  first  half  begins  with  the  sixth 
chapter  and  ends  with  the  eleventh  chapter  and  fourteenth  verse ;  and  is 
chiefly  a  Gentile  persecution.  It  embraces  the  period  of  the  seals  and 
first  six  trumpets.  The  second  half  begins  with  the  eleventh  chapter, 
fifteenth  verse,  and  ends  with  the  nineteenth  chapter,  tenth  verse,  and  is 
largely  a  Jewish  persecution.  It  embraces  the  contents  of  the  seventh 
trumpet,  to  wit,  the  seven  last  plagues. 

3.  The  millennium.  This  begins  with  chapter  xix.,  11,  and  contin- 
ues through  chapter  xx. 

4.  The  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  economy,  embraced  in  chap- 
ters XXI.  and  xxii. 

The  leading  events  of  the  prophecy  may  be  particularized  as  follows, 
and  are  to  come  to  pass  in  the  following  order : 

1.  The  coming  of  Jesus  down  into  the  air. 

2.  The  gathering  to  himself  the  first  fruits,  or  choice  saints. 

3.  Jesus'  visitation  of  the  churches. 

4.  The  coronation  of  Jesus. 


CnAPTERS    I.-V.  7 

5.  The  eventful  seven  years  of  Daniel,  embracing  the  loosing  of 
the  seals,  blowing  of  trumpets,  the  reign  of  Antichrist,  and  the  pour- 
ing out  of  the  vials. 

6.  The  resurrection  and  translation  of  two  bodies  of  martyrs. 

7.  The  marriage  of  the  lamb  in  heaven  before  the  expiry  of  the  seven 
years. 

8.  The  subsequent  wedding  feast  with  invited  guests. 

9.  The  descent  of  the  Lord  to  the  earth  with  his  people  behind  him. 

10.  The  overthrow  of  the  Antichrist  and  the  destruction  of  Babylon. 

11.  The  millennial  reign. 

12.  The  rebellion  at  the  end  of  the  millennium  when  Satan  comes  up 
out  of  the  abyss. 

13.  The  resurrection  and  judgment  of  the  unholy  dead. 

14.  The  burning  up  of  the  present  heavens  and  earth. 

15.  The  advent  of  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  with  the  "  saved 
nations ""  in  the  flesh,  out  of  the  burnt-up  earth,  who  are  found  on  the 
new  earth. 

16.  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  COME. 

For  the  first  three  centuries  of  this  dispensation  the  Eevelation  was 
read  and  understood  literally;  and  the  hope  of  the  church  was  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord ;  and  Christians  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods 
and  held  not  their  lives  dear  unto  them  in  view  of  it.  It  is  not  so  now" ! 
The  preaching  of  to-day  differs  widely  in  its  effects  from  what  Paul's 
preaching  did.  He  preached  to  the  heathen  Thessalonians,  and  we  are 
told  they  turned  from  idols  to  worship  the  living  and  true  God,  and  to 
"  wait  for  his  Son  out  of  the  heavens." 

If  the  canon  of  Scripture  closes  with  a  prophecy  relating  to  the  per- 
sonal coming  of  the  Lord  to  close  this  dispensation  and  introduce  a  bet- 
ter, why  should  it  not  be  heeded  when  it  is  set  forth  at  Titus  ii.,  13,  as 
being  that  which  should  be  "  the  blessed  hope  "  of  the  church  ? 

It  is  because,  with  the  so-called  conversion  of  Constantine  and  his 
patronage  of  the  church,  the  ho2)e  which  had  been  so  long  cherished  soon 
lost  its  animating  power,  and  was  purposely  and  with  full  consideration 
abandoned  in  the  interest  of  the  state  because  of  the  church's  wedlock 
with  the  state !  McClintock  &  Strong's  Encyclopedia  says  on  Constan- 
tine's  conversion  to  the  Christian  faith  :  "All  impediments  to  an  open 
confession  of  Christianity  were  removed,  and  it  became  the  established 
religion  of  the  empire.  Numerous,  however,  from  various  points  of 
view%  as  were  the  advantages  accruing  to  it  from  this  change,  it  soon  be- 
gan to  suffer  from  being  brought  into  close  contact  with  the  fostering 
influence  of  secular  powder.  The  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  was  corrupted ; 
pompous  rites  and  ceremonies  were  introduced ;  worldly  honors  and  emol- 
uments were  conferred  on  teachers  of  Christianity,  and  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  in  a  great  measure  converted  into  a  kingdom  of  this  world." 

The  patronage  of  the  church  by  the  emperor  was  so  great  a  bid  that 
the  Bishops  and  inferior  clergy  and  prominent  members  were  naturally 
overcome  by  it,  and  became  anxious  to  show  their  gratitude.  This  they 
could  only  do  by  repudiating,  in  toto,  the  hope  which  for  300  years  had 


8  The  Revelation. 

governed  the  church,  and  thej^  felt  they  must  do  it,  as  that  creed  pointed 
tlie  finger  at  the  Roman  government  as  that  wliich  was  to  be  destroyed 
at  King  Jesus'  coming  and  kingdom.  They,  therefore,  planned  the 
scheme  that  the  church  was  the  kingdom,  and  that  no  coming  or 
kingdom,  beside,  was  needed  or  desired  !  They  were  loudly  loyal  to  that 
nondescript  beast  government  which  had  ordered  the  death  of  Jesus  and 
had  persecuted  his  followers  for  300  years  immediately  preceding. 

The  church  having  thus  embraced  views  in  opposition  to  the  second 
coming  of  the  Lord,  found  it  necessary  to  depreciate  the  Book  of  the 
Revelation,  and  to  deny  the  authorsliip  of  it  to  such  an  illustrious  name 
as  that  of  the  Apostle  John.  It  was  also  found  advisable,  in  the  interest  of 
their  new  departure,  not  to  read  it  in  the  churches  and  to  forbid  it  to  the 
young  scholar ! 

This  church-kingdom  theory,  thus  erroneously  founded,  is  yet,  after 
1500  years,  the  view  of  all  Christian  churches,  Protestant  and  Papist  as 
well.  A  greater  error  it  seems  to  me  the  father  of  lies  could  not  have 
concocted.  It  became  the  parent  of  a  large  brood  of  errors  in  the  church. 
To  sustain  them  in  their  new  departure  the  church  was  forced  to  change 
her  creed  and  her  hermeneutics,  repudiating  the  grammatical  meaning  of 
the  w^ords  and  looking  for  a  moral  and  mystical  meaning,  instead. 

The  theory  that  the  church  is  the  kingdom  is  founded  on  principles 
which  present  a  false  view  of  the  present  condition  of  things  before  God. 
Optimistic  views  naturally  accompanied  it  and  were  necessary  to  placate 
the  state,  and  they  prevailed ;  and  are  still  taught ;  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, erroneous  views  of  God  and  his  holiness,  and  of  sin,  and  its 
effects,  and  proper  punishment,  follow  ;  so  that  a  theodicy,  it  is  asserted, 
can  not  be  framed  on  the  opposite  view  which  sees  that  Satan  has  done 
such  thorough  work  as  that  the  whole  world  system  is  a  sinking  na'n  and 
under  condemnation,  and  that  to  be  saved  one  must  come  out  of  it  as 
Lot  came  out  of  Sodom.  The  change  of  hermeneutics  was  so  thoroughly 
inwrought  into  the  system  of  teaching  that  to  this  day  so  absurd  a  prop- 
osition as  that  the  fathers  who  lived  during  the  first  three  centuries  were 
not  as  able  theologians  as  those  who  followed  after,  is  taught  by  learned 
professors  in  our  seminaries  !  Our  Christian  philosophy  must,  necessarily, 
liave  the  leaven  of  Greek  and  Roman  thought  m  it  and  be  faulty  in  many 
of  its  axioms ;  and  with  such  hermeneutics  is'xo  be  wondered  at  that  the 
prophetic  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  admitted  to  be  a  terra  incognita 
and  that  the  churches  are  in  such  a  cataleptic  state  that  so  often  the 
question  is  raised,  "  Is  Christianity  a  failure?"  The  marriage  of  the 
church  to  the  state  which  was  affected  1500  years  ago,  still  practically 
continues ;  and  when  Jesus  comes,  as  the  seventeenth  of  Revelation  pre- 
dicts, the  woman,  i.  e.,  the  Gentile  professing  church  will  be  found  "  a 
harlot "  sitting  on  a  "  scarlet-colored  beast." 

Such  an  issue,  horrible  as  it  is,  is  not  surprising.  It  is  a  necessary 
sequence  to  the  traditional  errors  which  we  have  received  without  sus- 
picion, and  are  transmitting  to  those  who  are  to  come  after  us.  Away 
back  in  Jeremiah's  time  we  see  these  false  teachings  foretold  as  charac- 
terizing our  times  (xvi.,  19),  when  he  says,  speaking  of  the  time  of  the 


Chapters  I-V.  9 

future  great  tribulation  of  Dau.  xii.,  1,  "  The  Gentiles  aliall  come  unto 
thee  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  shall  say,  nothing  but  lies  have 
our  fathers  inherited."  Many  of  our  self-evident  truths  will  then  be 
seen  to  be  self-evident  lies,  and  that  moralists  and  Christians  have  been 
alike  imposed  upon  by  tlie  father  of  lies ;  our  inherited  traditional  educa- 
tion, whether  secular  or  religious,  is  so  honeycombed  witli  casuistry  and 
reasonings  based  on  erroneous  assumptions,  seeing  everything  "  couleur 
de  rose,"  that  it  makes  it  almost  impossible  to  discover  these  "  lies  "  now. 
Our  safety  lies  in  doubting  all  traditional  teaching,  and  in  adhering 
closely  to  the  literal  teachhigs  of  the  infallible  "Word  of  God,  even  if  they 
do  overthrow  our  preconceived  opinions. 

The  topic  of  the  Eook  of  the  Kevelation  is  the  second  coming  of  our 
Lord  in  his  glorified  humanity.  Can  we  attach  too  much  importance  to 
this  precious  truth?  ISTo.  There  is  nothing  which  occupies  a  more 
promineyxt  -place  in  the  Word  of  God  than  the  second  and  glorious  appear- 
ing of  our  Lord.  It  is  the  basis  of  all  the  persuasive  reasoning  of  the 
jSTew  Testament  to  urge  Christians  to  a  holy  separated  life,  and  if  I  mis- 
take not,  it  is  the  only  Scripture  argument  to  holy  living.  It  is  the  key 
note  to  all  Scripture.  It  should  be  the  one  thought  of  her  wlio  is  betrothed 
to  him  who  is  temporarily  gone  int'^  a  far  country  ;  and  she  should  as  a 
chaste  virgin,  be  ever  "  watching  "  for  his  return.  After  the  sinner  has 
known  what  Jesus  did  at  his  first  coming,  how  he  emptied  himself  of 
the  form  of  God  and  took  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  obedient  unto 
death  as  his  substitute,  there  is  nothing  then  before  him  that  has  any 
value  in  a  scriptural  sense,  but  the  coming  back  of  that  same  Jesus  to  re- 
ceive him  to  himself,  to  restitute  all  things  and  to  utay  here  for  ever,  in 
the  new  condition  of  things  soon  thereafter  to  supervene — -'the  king- 
dom of  God." 

The  first  eight  verses  of  the  first  chapter  are  a  prologue,  so  that  the 
Revelation  properly  begins  with  the  ninth  verse ;  and  following  it,  we 
have  a  description  of  Christ's  second  appearing.  There  are  two  stages  to 
the  coming :  first,  Jesus  descends  into  the  air,  as  seen  in  the  first  chapter, 
then,  after  an  interval  of  time  (second  stage)  he  comes  down  to  earth,  as 
seen  in  the  nineteenth  chapter.  The  length  of  the  intervening  period  is 
unknown,  but  the  events  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  described  between 
chapter  ii.,  1  and  chapter  xix.,  11,  are  those  to  occur  therein.  .  It  is 
thought  by  those  who  have  studied  the  use  of  the  numerals  of  Scripture 
that  it  will  not  be  less  than  forty  years.  Its  seven  closing  years  to 
immediately  precede  the  actual  appearance  of  "the  Son  of  Man  "  compre- 
hend the  so-called  seventieth  week  of  Daniel.  If  forty  years  be  assumed 
as  the  interval  between  the  Lord's  descent  into  the  air  and  his  subsequent 
coming  down  to  earth,  and  the  closing  seven  years  be  deducted  as 
the  time  of  the  Antichrist  and  the  great  tribulation,  there  would  be 
left  thirty-three  years  before  that  time  of  horror  commences ;  and  they 
are  as  a  prelude  thereto,  during  which  Jesus  appears  as  "  the  bright  and 
morning  star ;"  and  the  holy  dead  are  resurrected  and  translated,  and  the 
translation  of  the  ready  saints  takes  place ;  1  Thess.  iv.,  17.  The  churches 
are  visited  and  admonished,  chapters  ii.  and  iii.     A  celestial  court  is 


10  The  Eevelation. 

held,  and  the  resurrected  and  ready  saints,  represented  by  the  twenty- 
four  elders,  are  seen  seated  on  thrones  in  the  presence  of  God,  and 
clothed  and  crowned,  chapter  iv.;  and  then  the  question  of  the  disposi- 
tion of  this  Adam  creation  is  adjudged ;  and  the  title  deed  of  the  same 
awarded  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  thereupon  is  crowned  as  its  lawful  sov- 
ereign, chapter  v. 

This  coming  of  the  "  Son  of  Man '"  in  the  clouds,  and  his  investiture 
with  the  reins  of  government  are  repeatedly  referred  to  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment scriptures;  for  example,  Dan.  vii.,  13,  14: — "I  saw  in  the  night 
visions,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient  of  Days,  and  they  brought  him  near  be- 
fore him.  And  there  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory  and  a  king- 
dom, that  all  people,  nations  and  languages  should  serve  him;  his 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not  pass  away,  and 
HIS  KINGDOM  that  whicli  shall  not  be  destroyed.'' 

The  later  Jews  were  accustomed  to  speak  of  him  therefore  as  "the 
cloud  man."  In  the  I^ew  Testament,  the  same  reference  is  frequent,  as 
at  Mark  xiv.,  62,  "And  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  at  the  right 
hand  of  power,  and  coming  with  the  clouds  of  heaven."  God  has  set  the 
church  to  be  a  true  witness  during  the  -period  of  his  Son's  absence,  of  what 
he  has  manifested  in  Jesus,  and  if  the  church  does  not  do  this,  it  is  a 
false  witness  and  is  subject  to  judgment,  and  to  be  set  aside.  AVhen  the 
Savior,  just  prior  to  his  return,  visits  the  then  existing  churches,  he  does 
not  address  them  in  their  collective  capacities,  but  he  addresses  the  indi- 
vidual members.  The  times  will  make  it  necessary  so  to  do.  He  says, 
"jETe  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear."  "  To  him  that  overcometh,"  etc. 
If  the  view  which  I  take  in  referring  this  prophecy  to  the  time  of  the 
end  is  the  correct  one,  how  appropriate  it  is  that  the  Lord  should  remind 
each  church,  shortly  beforehand,  that  he  is  about  to  come  down  to  earth, 
for  the  Lord's  coming  is  always  kept  in  view  throughout  the  seven  epis- 
tles. He  says  to  these  churches :  "  Hold  fast  till  I  come."  "  I  will  come 
on  thee  as  a  thief."  "  I  will  come  quickly."  "  Hold  that  fast  which  thou 
hast  that  no  man  take  thy  crown."  He  also  says  to  the  church  at  Phila- 
delphia, "I  will  also  keep  thee  in  the  hour  of  temptation."  Meaning 
that  of  the  great  tribulation  which  shall  come  on  all  the  world  to  try 
them-that  dwell  on  the  earth.  "  Take  care  that  no  man  take  thy  crown." 
This  could  not  have  been  appropriately  said  to  the  church  at  Philadel- 
phia 1800  years  ago. 

Lange  says  truly,  "The  fundamental  idea  of  the  seven  epistles  is 
the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Apocalypse  itself— the  coming  of  the  Lord." 
The  epistles  to  the  churches  should  then  relate  to  that  time.  They  form 
a  part  of  "the  revelation"  and  "prophecy,"  and  they  are  spoken  of 
as  a  "mystery,"  which  could  not  be  said  of  existing  churches.  Be- 
sides, the  Pauline  epistles  express  the  condition  of  the  churches  in  the 
apostle's  time,  and  make  these  short  epistles  unnecessary  thereto. 
These  epistles  befit  the  predicted  condition  of  things  just  before  the 
coming  again  of  the  Lord.  There  can  be  no  good  reason  assigned  why 
the  matter  of   the  second  and  third  chapters  should  be  excluded  from 


Chapters  I-V.  11 

the  time  future,  and  referred  back  to  the  days  of  the  apostles.  Besides, 
it  is  denied  tliat  there  was  a  cliurcli  at  Thyatira  until  the  third  cen- 
tury, or  that  there  was  a  sect  of  Nicolaitanes ;  or  a  martyr  "Antipas  " 
in  those  days.  Moreover,  Sardis  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the 
xVpostles  as  having  a  church,  nor  is  one  referred  to  by  profane  authors 
as  existing  there.  John  must  have  seen  the  first  three  chapters  as  much 
in  the  light  of  "the  day  of  the  Lord"  as  the  rest  of  the  book.  The 
great  tribulation  is  about  to  come  upon  the  world.  It  involves  not  only 
the  Jew,  but  tlie  Gentile.  "The  times  of  the  Gentiles"  are  also  about 
to  close,  and  the  seven  churches  represent  the  entire  body  of  the  Gen- 
tile churcli  existing  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  into  the  air. 
These,  the  Savior  would  visit,  before  this  tribulation  begins;  and  he 
points  out  to  them  the  debit  and  credit  sides  of  their  account  with  him, 
and  urges  them  to  endure  the  severe  trial  to  which  they  were  about 
to  be  subjected  during  the  seven  years  of  its  existence,  and  promises 
great  rewards  to  the  "  overcomers,"  i.  e.,  to  those  who  resist  unto  mar- 
tyrdom the  order  of  the  world's  ruler,  then  shortly  to  appear,  the  Anti- 
christ, requiring  them  to  worship  him.  The  trials  to  which  professors 
of  the  faith  of  Christ  will  then  be  subjected  will  be  far  greater  than 
any  to  which  they  have  been  in  all  time  past.  Hence,  Jesus  is  seen 
in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candlesticks,  and  directs  a  short  admonitory 
letter  to  be  sent  to  each  of  the  churches,  with  an  exhortation:  "Be 
thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 

The  Savior  having  come  down  into  the  air  in  fulfillment  of  his  pro- 
mise, catches  away  to  meet  him  there  the  ready,  waiting,  expecting, 
saints  who  are  alive  on  the  earth.  He  will  have  resurrected  and  trans- 
lated just  before,  those  of  the  holy  dead  who  shall  have  died  with  the 
precious  hope  of  his  coming  animating  them  during  their  stay  here  on 
earth.  This  is  seen,  in  that,  round  about  the  throne  there  were  twenty- 
four  thrones  with  elders  sitting  upon  them ;  clothed  with  white  robes 
and  with  golden  crowns  on  their  heads.  None  other  of  the  human  race 
were  present  than  those  symbolized  by  these  twenty-four  elders.  The 
sea  of  glass  in  front  of  the  throne  was  vacant.  It  remained  unoccupied 
for  a  considerable  time.  In  the  meantime,  what  occurred  ?  We  find, 
in  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters,  that  one  of  the  persons  of  deity  sat  upon 
the  central  throne. 

There  was  a  visible  manifestation.  A  rainbow  encircled  the  throne, 
and  seven  torches  of  fire  were  burning  before  it,  which  are  the  seven 
spirits  of  God.  He  that  sat  on  the  throne  took  in  his  right  hand 
the  seven-sealed  book  or  roll  and  asked,  "Who  is  worthy  to  open  the 
book  and  to  loose  the  seals  of  it?"  This  brings  forward,  as  claimant, 
that  person  of  deity  who  had  become  incarnate,  and  who  had  bought  the 
world  through  his  sacrificial  death.  He  came  and  took  the  book  from 
the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  and  when  he  took  the  book 
the  four  living  ones  and  the  twenty-four  elders  fell  down  before  the 
Lamb  and  sung,  "  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals 
of  it ;"  and  they  were  joined  by  the  voices  of  many  angels,  and  the  num- 
ber of  them  was  myriads  of  myriads  and  thousands  of  thousands,  saying 


12  The  Eevelatioist. 

witli  a  loud  voice,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  which  has  been  slain  to  receive 
the  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor,  and  glory, 
and  blessing  !  "  What  a  magnificent  sight !  What  does  it  n^ean  ?  It  is 
the  coronation  of  the  king!  Of  him  whose  claim  was  recognized  and  to 
whom  was  accorded  the  deed,  in  fee  simple,  to  the  "whole  creation;" 
yea,  of  him  who  is  both  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man,  who  was  dead  and 
is  alive  again  forever  more.  He  went  into  a  far  country  to  receive  a 
KINGDOM  AND  TO  RETURN.  He  is  now  invested  with  his  richly  earned 
right  to  the  kingdom,  and  will  soon  go  down  to  earth  and  assert  his 
right  and  take  the  government  on  his  own  shoulder,  for  the  Lord  God 
has  given  unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David ;  and  he  shall  hence- 
forth reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever ;  and  of  his  kingdom  there 
shall  be  no  end.  What  an  honor  to  be  among  the  choice  few  who  shall 
be  present  to  witness  the  inauguration  and  coronation  of  the  great  king! 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  is  thus  closely  associated  with  and 
related  to  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord.  In  treating  of  the  resurrection 
at  1  Cor.  XV.,  51,  Paul  writes :  "  Behold  I  tell  you  a  mystery :  We  shall 
not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  at  the  last  tnmnj ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  (1)  the 
dead,  (the  holy  dead),  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  (2)  we,  the  (holy) 
living,  shall  be  changed."  The  mystery  he  would  tell  the  Corinthian 
church  of  is  the  translation  and  metamorphosing  of  believers  without 
dying!  Again,  in  speaking  of  this  subject  at  1  Thess.  iv.,  15,  17,  Paul 
says,  "We  (the  liviii;j,-  at  that  time)  shall  not  precede  them  which  have 
fallen  asleep."  The  dead  in  Christ  must  go  up  first,  then  we,  the  liv- 
ing, shall  mount  up  witli  wings  as  eagles.  Jesus  will  send  his  angels 
on  the  glad  mission  of  convoying  them  into  his  presence.  Each  angel 
will  know  where  to  find  the  individual  for  whom  he  is  sent.  The  air 
will  be  filled  with  the  many  millions  who  are  then  leaving  their  graves 
and  rising  up  above  the  clouds  in  their  resurrected  and  glorified  bodies 
to  meet  their  common  Lord !  What  sweet  music  from  these  heavenly 
beings  will  fill  the  air!  Oh  how  glad  they  will  be  to  execute  their 
commission!  They  will  not  be  able  to  withhold  their  expressions  of 
delight.  And  what  a  meeting  between  the  Savior  and  his  redeemed 
ones  !     Who  can  describe  it  ? 

It  has  been  supposed  that  those  of  God's  people  who,  hundreds  of 
years  ago,  in  obedience  to  his  command,  were  hourly  on  the  watch  for 
him  during  the  whole  of  their  earthly  pilgrimage,  had  died  without 
deriving  any  profit  therefrom,  but  here  we  see  the  contrary.  They  are 
the  first  to  be  taken  out  of  their  graves  and  translated,  and  tliey  are 
become  "greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  as  is  evident  from  their 
being  seated  on  "thrones"  and  having  "crowns"  on  their  heads. 

During  the  first  three  centuries,  everybody,  probably,  who  professed 
faith  in  Christ,  waited,  with  desire,  for  the  return  of  the  Lord ;  and  hence 
nearly  all  the  believers  of  that  time  must  be  in  the  great  congregation 
assembling  to  meet  their  beloved!  The  fourth  century  would  gather 
fewer,  and  subsequent  centuries  fewer  still,  till  we  come  to  the  time 
of  "the  Eeformation,"  when  the  number  would  be  increased,  contin- 


CUAPTEUS   I-V.  13 

uing  small,  however,  to  the  time  of  the  coming,  for  when  lie  cometh, 
"shall  he  then  Qnd  that  faith  on  the  earth?"  Tlie  question  needs  no 
answer.    He  will  not. 

The  holy  dead  having  been  raised  and  translated,  the  holy  living 
are  now  sent  for.  Again  the  same  joyous  scene  occurs,  although  the 
number  to  fly  away  on  high  at  the  bidding  of  their  Lord  will  be  vastly 
smaller.  The  tvro  bodies  of  dead  and  living  saints  now  united,  form 
the  complement  of  the  "choice"  saints,  for  although  many  are  called, 
few  are  the  choice  ones.  They  are  represented  in  the  vision  by  the 
twenty-four  elders.  They  are  not  the  whole  body  of  the  redeemed,  but 
those  "ready"  saints,  the  "first  fruits"  who  are  taken  in  advance  of 
the  rest,  the  harvest  saints.  They  are  in  heaven  before  the  coronation 
of  Jesus,  and  before  a  single  seal  is  broken.  There  is  no  such  honor 
conferred  on  any  single  child  of  God  except  he  shall  have  loved  Christ's 
appearing.    2  Tim.  iv.,  8. 

As  in  every  great  house  there  are  vessels  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  iron 
and  stone,  so  will  it  be  in  God's  kingdom  when  it  comes.  There  will  be 
varying  degrees  in  the  glory.  While  there  are  those  who  will  be  "  great- 
est," there  will  be  those  who  will  be  "  least."  The  distinction  that  will 
then  be  made  in  God's  servants  is  an  important  doctrine.  The  same 
grace  pardons  and  saves  all,  but  all  will  not  have  the  same  reward.  The 
thief  on  the  cross  will  not  have  as  high  a  place  as  the  consecrated  and 
laborious  Paul  of  Tarsus. 

The  measure  of  one's  reward  will  be  determuied  by  the  life  he  lives. 
No  one  will  share  in  the  fir^t  honors  unless  by  a  life  of  rare  devotedness 
in  this  world,  he  has  won  for  himself  that  distinction,  and  this  is  practi- 
cally unattainable  except  he  be  governed  in  his  every-day  life  by  the 
habitual  thought  of  the  possible  coming  of  the  Lord,  with  an  earnest  and 
a  longing  desire  for  his  appearing. 

The  second  honors  will  be  conferred  on  those  who,  while  ignoring  "  the 
blessed  hope  "  as  the  regulating  principle  of  their  lives,  have  yet  fonght 
a  good  fight,  and  are  entitled  to  and  will  receive  the  victor's  wreath,  as 
we  read  at  James  i.,  12,  and  Rev.  ii.,  10,  of  their  receiving  the  "  crown 
of  life,"  and  at  1  Peter  v.,  4,  it  is  called  "  the  crown  of  glory."  Then, 
finally,  those  who  are  least,  lose  their  crowns,  Rev.  in.,  11,  but  are  saved, 
so  as  one  coming  through  a  fire. 


LECTURE  SECOND. 

REVIEWING   CIIAPTEKS    V^I.,  1  TO  XI.,  14. 

The  Book  of  Daniel  treats  briefly  of  the  events  of  the  yet  unfulfilled 
seventieth  week  of  prophecy,  while  John,  in  the  Eevelation,  occupies 
more  than  thirteen  chapters  in  giving  particulars  in  detail.  Since  Daniel 
and  John  are  writing  of  the  same  future  time  and  same  future  events, 
the  Book  of  Daniel  has  been  sometimes  called  "  the  Apocalypse  of  the 
Old  Testament."  The  seventy  sevens,  or  490  years  of  the  temporal  his- 
tory of  the  Jews  are  purposely  broken  into  three  divisions  by  the  prophet 
Daniel,  viz. :  7  +  62  +  1.  The  first  two  have  had  their  historical  fulfill- 
ment. The  last,  the  one  remaining  week,  is  what  we  are  particularly 
interested  in.  It  is  separated  from  the  preceding  division— the  sixty- two 
weeks — by  interposing  an  interval  of  1800  years  or  more  of  non-prophetic 
time,  which  period  is  termed  "  the  times  of  the  Gentiles."  These  sev- 
enty sevens  of  years  were  upon  Daniel's  people,  the  Jews,  and  their  holy 
city.  jSTot  then  till  Gentile  times,  intervening  between  the  sixty-ninth 
and  seventieth  weeks,  are  ended,  and  the  Jew  comes  to  the  front  again, 
can  the  prophetic  history  of  the  last,  the  seventieth  week,  have  its  fulfill- 
ment ;  and  it  will  affect  both  Jew  and  Gentile.  In  the  tenth  chapter  of  1 
Corinthians  Paul  speaks  of  "the  Jew,  the  Gentile  and  the  church  of 
God ;  "  and  these  three  distinctions  are  everywhere  observed  throughout 
the  Word  of  God,  and  particularly  so  in  "  The  Eevelation."  Getting  the 
time  right,  in  which  the  week  is  to  have  its  course,  and  divesting  our- 
selves, if  possible,  of  the  traditional  and  erroneous  idea  in  which  we  have 
been  educated,  that  the  Revelation  describes  the  history  of  the  church 
during  this  dispensation,  the  book  will  be  as  easily  understood  as  John's 
Gospel  or  Epistles. 

Coming  now  to  the  second  part  of  the  book,  which  begins  with  the 
sixth  chapter,  we  enter  on  the  prophetic  description  of  the  history  of 
Daniel's  seventieth  week  of  unfulfilled  prophecy,  as  exhibited  afterwards 
and  more  fully  to  John.  It  details  the  career  of  the  personal  Antichrist, 
or  beast,  as  he  is  generally  called.  The  week  is  divided  into  two  halves, 
Daniel  ix.,  27.  The  crowned  Jesus  still  remains  in  the  air  with  the 
select  company  of  choice  saints  who  had  witnessed  his  inauguration,  and 
now  that  the  commencement  of  the  week  has  been  reached  he  will  pro- 
ceed to  break  seal  after  seal. 

With  the  first  seal  broken  there  will  go  out  a  white  horse ;  and  he 
that  sits  thereon  shall  have  a  bow ;  and  there  shall  be  given  to  him  a 
crown  ;  and  he  shall  come  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly the  J^;;jpl  -\iy^  of  Daniel  ix.,  26,  27— the  prince  who  should 

T    -  •    T 

come,  and  who  shall  have  a  wonderful  career.    During  the  first  half  of 
the  week  he  shall  be  a  conquering  hero.    During  the  last  half  he  will 


16  The  Kevelation. 

develop  into  the  Antichrist.  He  will  be  the  most  important  personage 
figuring  during  the  seven  years.  He  will  be  "  the  little  horn  "  of  Daniel 
VII.,  20,  26  and  of  Dan.  viii.,  9,  who,  verse  23,  is  referred  to  as  "a 
king  of  fierce  countenance  and  understanding  dark  sentences;  "  and  his 
power  shall  be  mighty  but  not  by  his  own  power ;  for  Rev.  xiii.,  2,  the 
dragon,  i.  e.,  Satan,  shall  give  him  his  power,  and  his  throne,  and  great 
authority ;  and  he  shall  destroy  wonderfully  and  shall  prosper  and  prac- 
tice, and  shall  destroy  the  mighty  and  the  holy  people ;  and  through  his 
policy  he  shall  cause  craft  to  prosper  in  the  land  ;  and  he  shall  magnify 
himself  in  his  heart,  and  by  peace  shall  destroy  many ;  he  also  shall 
finally,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  stand  up  against  "•  tlie  Prince  of  Princes." 
But  his  end  shall  be  that  he  "■  shall  be  broken  without  hand."  He  is 
called  the  "  Assyrian"  in  the  prophets,  because  he  wiU  be  the  king  of 
Babylon,  which  city  will  again  be  rebuilt;  and  the  ten  kings,  represent- 
iug  the  Roman  empire,  revived  in  its  ten  toe  kingdoms  (xvii.,  12).  shall 
have  one  mind  and  shall  give  their  power  and  strength  to  "  the  beast." 

One  of  his  first  acts  will  be  to  confirm  a  covenant  for  one  week,  or 
seven  years  with  the  Jews,  whom  he  will  regard  as  infidels  ;  for  they  will 
then  do  what  Jesus  told  them  at  John  v.,  43,  they  would  certainly  do, 
when  he  said  ''  I  am  come  in  my  Father's  name  and  ye  receive  me  not; 
if  another  shall  come  in  his  own  name,  him  ye  will  receive.-''  They  will 
ratify  a  covenant  with  the  Antichrist !  and  for  1260  days  he,  leaving  the 
Jews  alone,  for  a  while,  shall  persecute  the  Christian  Church  among  the 
Gentiles  with  the  view  to  its  annihilation.  To  this  end  the  old  Roman 
laws  vs.  the  Christians  will  doubtless  be  revived.  Wlien  the  Prir.ce 
shall  go  forth,  he  shall  be  followed  by  three  subordinates  on  horseback : 
and  as  a  result  of  the  first  four  seals  opened  there  shall  be  war,  famine, 
and  death,  God's  four  sore  judgments,  to  kill  (vi.,  8)  with  sword  and 
with  famine  and  with  pestilence,  and  by  the  wild  beasts  of  the  earth. 
Under  the  fifth  seal  John  saw  the  souls  of  those,  who  under  the  previous 
seals  had  been  slain  for  the  Word  of  God ;  and  they  are  heard  to  cry : 
"  How  long,  O  Master,  the  Holy  and  True,  dost  thou  not  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  V  "  And  there  shall  be  given  to 
them,  to  each  one,  a  white  robe ;  and  it  shall  be  said  to  them  that  they 
should  rest  yet  for  a  little  time,  mitil  their  fellow  servants  also  and  their 
brethren  who  should  be  killed  even  as  they  were,  should  be  fulfilled. 
This  prayer  of  theirs  with  its  answer,  shows,  (first)  that  a  part  of  the 
church  goes  through  the  great  tribulation,  and  (second)  that  its  number 
was  not  then  complete. 

The  opening  of  the  sixth  seal  will  bring  an  earthquake  with  such  ter- 
rific accompaniments  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  shall  mistakenly 
think  that  the  end  of  the  world  has  come.  Their  kings  and  great  men 
will  hide  themselves  from  fright,  though  they  will  afterwards  recover 
from  the  shock,  as  the  sequel  shows.  Under  the  same  sixth  seal  we  find 
144,000  Jews  are  to  be  sealed,  i.  e.,  are  to  be  secured,  according  to  God's 
purposes,  and  set  aside  by  him. 

They  are  spoken  of  as  "servants  of  our  God,"  not  sons  or  mem- 
bers of  the  body  of  Christ,  as  we.    Afterwards  we  find  at  chapter  vii.,  9, 


Chapters  VI.,  1  to  XI.,  14.  17 

that  John  saw  those  martyrs,  whose  prayers  he  had  lieard  a  little  while 
before  (chapter  vi.,  10),  standing  before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb 
arrayed  in  white  robes  and  palms  in  their  hands.  They  will  form  a  great 
multitude  which  no  man  can  number,  out  of  every  nation  and  of  all 
tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,  and  they  will  cry  with  a  great  voice,  say- 
ing, "  Salvation  unto  our  God  which  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  unto  the 
Lamb."  And  one  of  the  elders  will  answer  unto  him,  "  These  (of  verse 
9)  which  are  arrayed  in  the  white  robes,  who  are  they  and  whence  came 
they?"  And  he  shall  say  unto  him,  "My  Lord,  thou  knowest.''  And 
he  shall  say  to  him,  "  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  '  the  great  tribu- 
lation,' and  they  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb.  Therefore  are  they  before  the  the  throne  of  God,  and  they 
shall  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple  ;  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  shall  spread  his  tabernacle  (not,  among  them,  but  as  the  new  ver- 
sion has  it)  over  them." 

We  have  seen  that  long  before  the  seven  years  of  the  great  tribulation 
began  there  was  in  heaven  a  body  of  redeemed  men,  in  exalted  station, 
as  co-kings  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  witnesses  of  his  coronation;  and 
long  after,  when  nearing  the  middle  of  the  week,  we  have  seen  that  "  the 
Prince,"  he  who  had  gone  forth  on  the  white  horse,  conquering  and  to 
conquer,  had  martyred  all  the  Christians  he  could  lay  his  hands  on  ;  and 
these  martyrs  are  now  found  translated,  too,  a  vast  multitude  that  could 
not  be  numbered,  and  they  are  standing  before  the  throne  of  God,  his 
servants,  but  in  inferior  position  to  those  who,  represented  by  the 
twenty-four  elders,  had  preceded  them  so  long  before ;  and  the  reason  of 
the  exalted  position  of  the  first  class  can  be  no  other  that  that  they  had 
a  faith  which  enabled  them  "to  testify  against  the  world  that  the  works 
thereof  are  evil ;  "  and  "  to  wait  for  the  Son  of  God  out  of  the  heaven  " 
as  all  their  hope,  all  their  desire ;  for  the  promise  of  "  the  crown  "  wiiich 
the  Righteous  Judge  "  shall  give  at  that  day  "  is  limited  to  those  that 
HAVE  LOVED  his  appearing.    2  Tim.  iv.,  8. 

The  perfect  tense  here  employed,  ro?f  i/jam/Koat,  looks  back  to  the  time 
of  the  first  coming,  and  takes  in  all  those  holy  dead  who,  in  their  lives, 
loved,  habitually,  the  thought  of  the  Lord's  second  coming.  There  is  no 
mention  of  a  translation  of  those  saints  who  lived  and  died  in  disregard 
of,  or  in  opposition  to,  this  "  blessed  hope."  The  inference  is  that  they  are 
on  this  account  overlooked  and  in  comparative  disgrace ;  for  the  promise 
is  only  to  those  that "  look  for  him  "  that  he  shall  appear  the  second  time. 

The  Savior  himself  says  "  Blessed  is  that  servant,"  (no  other  is  in- 
tended), surely,  "  whom  his  Lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find  so  domg," 
i.  e.,  watching  for  his  coming.  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  shall 
make  him  ruler  over  all  his  goods."  This  is  in  effect  to  make  him  his 
co-partner,  and  an  associate  king.  "  But  and  if  that  evil  servant  shall 
say  in  his  heart,  my  Lord  delayeth  his  coming,"  the  most  direful  con- 
sequences are  predicted  to  follow.  He  that  watches  for  the  coming  is 
denominated  the  "  faithful  and  wise  servant." 

This  vast  multitude  of  saved  sinners,  who  will  soon  be  seen  standing 
on  the  sea  of  glass,  will  be  composed  in  part  of  those  believers  who  at 


18  The  Eevelation. 

the  first  stage  of  the  Lord's  coming  were  not  "  looking"  and  "  watching" 
for  his  return,  and  hence  not  ready  for  translation  at  that  time.  Thej' 
were  therefore  left  to  go  through  the  tribulation  ;  and  as  a  result  they 
suffered  martyrdom  and  so  became  ready  and  are  now  translated  too.  It 
is  fair  from  analogy  to  infer  that  those  of  the  holy  dead  who  lived  and 
died  in  disregard  of  the  command  to  watch  for  the  return  of  Jesus  are 
resurrected  and  translated  at  this  time,  and  form  the  larger  part  of  this 
company.  While  there  is  no  reference  in  the  book  to  either  the  resurrec- 
tion or  translation  of  this  class  of  the  people  of  God,  specially,  yet  as  we 
know  that  all  are  to  rise,  and  as  all  the  saints  are  to  come  down  behind 
the  Lord  when  he  comes  to  earth,  they  must  be  translated  at  some  time 
subsequent  to  that  of  the  choice  saints,  though  no  reference  be  made  to  it. 

On  the  opening  of  the  seventh  seal  there  will  be  silence  in  heaven 
about  a  half  hour ;  and  then  the  seven  trumpets  will  be  brought  out ;  the 
angel  will  take  the  censer  and  he  will  fill  it  with  the  fire  of  the  altar,  and 
cast  it  upon  the  earth,  and  there  will  follow  thunders,  voices,  lightnings 
and  an  earthquake.  The  casting  out  fire  into  the  earth  is  an  emblem  of 
wrath.    Does  it  not  produce  the  judgments  of  the  seven  trumpets  V 

The  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  trumpets  will  be  spent  on  the 
material  creation— the  earth,  trees,  grass,  sea,  rivers  and  fountains,  sun, 
moon  and  stars.  The  last  three  trumpets  will  be  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth,  and  are  called  "  woes." 

The  first  woe,  or  fifth  trumpet,  will  bring  a  falling  star,  i.  e.,  Satan. 
To  him  will  be  given  the  key  of  the  pit  of  the  abyss.  The  woe  will  last 
five  months,  or  150  days,  wherein  creatures  from  the  bottomless  pit  with 
a  king  over  them,  named  Abaddon,  shall  torment  those  who  have  not 
the  seal  of  God  on  their  foreheads  with  a  sting  like  that  of  a  scorpion,  so 
that  in  their  agony  men  shall  seek  death  and  shall  not  find  it ;  and  shall 
desire  to  die  and  death  shall  flee  from  them. 

The  second  woe,  or  sixth  trumpet,  will  bring  the  loosing  of  four  evil 
angels  (Ps.  lxxviii.,  49)  which  will  have  been  bound  or  imprisoned,  in 
the  great  river  Euphrates.  IsraePs  first  enemies  came  from  that  quar- 
ter, and  so  will  the  last.  They  will  be  prepared  for  the  hour  and  day 
and  month  and  year  to  slay  the  third  part  of  men.  They  will  have  200 
millions  of  supernatural  horses  and  391  days  allowed  them  in  which  to 
do  this  work ;  and  it  will  be  effected  by  the  fire  and  smoke  and  brimstone 
which  shall  issue  out  of  their  months. 

The  150  days  allotted  to  the  fifth  trumpet  or  first  woe  and  the  391 
days  to  the  sixth  trumpet  or  second  woe,  leave  about  two  years  time  of 
the  three  and  one-half  years  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  previous  history  of 
the  seals  and  first  four  trumpets. 

The  execution  of  this  second  woe,  killing  the  third  part  of  men  by 
such  terrible  agents,  will  have  none  other  than  a  hardening  effect  like  as 
God's  judgments  had  on  Pharaoh  and  his  people  in  the  days  of  Moses 
and  Aaron.  What  an  awful  condition  society  will  then  be  in !  The  civil- 
ized and  cultured  world  will  have  returned  to  the  worship  of  idols  of 
gold  and  silver  for  the  rich,  and  of  brass  and  of  stone  and  of  wood  for 
the  people  at  large.    It  seems,  society  is  now  prepared  and  ready  for  it ; 


Chapters  VI.,  1  to  XT.,  14.  19 

and  it  would  not  surprise  me  to  learn  any  day  tliat  the  Penates  and  Lares 
of  other  times  were  again  fashionable  witli  worldly  society.  It  will  first 
come  to  us,  probably,  as  a  foreign  fashion  which  our  people  will  imitate. 

The  first  half  of  "the  great  tribulation''  being  about  to  end,  before 
its  conclusion  a  strong  angel,  (evidently  from  the  description  the  Lord 
Christ)  will  come  down  from  heaven,  arrayed  Avith  a  cloud  and  the  rain- 
bow upon  his  head,  and  his  face  as  the  sun,  and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire ; 
and  he  will  have  in  his  hand  a  little  book  open.  Then  he  shall  set  his 
right  foot  upon  the  sea,  and  his  left  foot  upon  the  earth,  and  shall  cry 
wdth  a  great  voice.  Seven  thunders  sliall  answer  and  give  utterances, 
the  import  of  which  shall  be  sealed  up.  The  angel,  however,  shall  pro- 
ceed to  state  not  that  there  should  be  time  no  longer,  but  no  further 
DELAY  in  bringing  things  to  a  final  crisis ;  and  that  the  seventh  angel 
should  soon  sound,  and  that  shortly  thereafter  "the  mystery "  of  God 
should  be  finished.  The  angel,  moreover,  shall  say  to  John,  "T/iow  must 
prophesy,  again,  over  many  peoples  and  nations  and  tongues  and  kings." 
There  is  then  to  be  a  resurvey  of  Jerusalem,  and  John  will  be  commanded 
to  measure  the  temple  of  God  and  the  altar  and  its  worshipers.  The  holy 
city,  i.  e.,  Jerusalem  rebuilt,  the  Gentiles  shall  trample  under  foot  forty- 
two  months,  or  three  and  one-half  years, — the  last  half  of  the  week  of 
seven  years. 

The  Gentile  church  shall  then  be  found  apostate,  and  disappear  just 
as  the  Jewish  church  did  before  it.  The  GJentiles  will  have  been  "  high 
minded  "  and  have  not  "  feared""  and  they  are  to  be  broken  off  from  the 
olive  tree  into  which  they  have  been  grafted ;  and  the  blindness  in  part 
which  had  happened  to  Israel  until  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come 
in,  is  about  to  be  removed  and  the  Jews  come  to  the  front  once  more, 
for  God  is  able  to  graft  them  in  again. 

The  last  act  recorded  before  concluding  the  first  half  of  the  week  will 
be  the  putting  to  death  of  the  two  witnesses  who  will  have  been  laboring 
for  1260  days  in  Jerusalem.  All  efforts  of  the  beast  to  accomplish  this 
before  have  proved  abortive.  At  this  juncture  it  is  that  the  Antichrist 
shall  break  his  seven  years'  covenant  with  the  Jews,  and  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem and  set  up  his  own  image,  requiring  all  men  to  worship  him  as  God ; 
and  shortly  thereafter  he  will  exact  from  all  men  to  have  liis  mark  upon 
their  persons  in  demonstration  of  their  acknowledgment  of  his  claim  to 
their  homage.  Now,  the  witnesses,  Elijah  certainly  and  probably  this 
very  John  (vide  John  xxi.,  22,  23),  having  accomplished  their  remarkable 
mission,  the  Lord  will  permit  "  the  beast "  or  Antichrist  to  succeed  in 
his  design,  and  he  shall  overcome  them  and  kill  them.  Their  dead  bodies 
shall  be  put  into  the  street,  that  all  may  see  them,  and  there  will  be 
great  joy  thereat.  But  at  the  end  of  three  and  one-half  days  their  dead 
bodies  shall  be  quickened  to  life,  and  they  shall  arise  and  stand  on  their 
feet,  great  fear  falling  on  all  that  shall  see  them.  A  voice  from  heaven 
shall  call  to  them  saying,  "  Come  up  hither,"  and  they  shall  go  up  to 
heaven  in  the  cloud.  At  the  same  hour  a  great  earthquake  shall  take 
place  in  which  7,000  men  shall  be  killed ;  and  so  shall  end  the  second 
woe,  and  with  it  the  first  half  of  the  week  of  the  great  tribulation. 


LECTURE  THIRD. 


BEGINS   IX.,  1-5;    ENDS  XIX.,  10. 

The  second  half  of  the  week  commences  with  the  sounding  of  the  sev- 
enth trumpet,  which  is  the  third  woe.  The  angel  had  before  stated  to 
John  (X.,  6,  7)  there  should  be  no  longer  "  delay  "  but  that  "  in  the  days  " 
of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel  when  he  shall  begin  to  sound,  the 
mystery  of  God  should  be  iinished.  If  we  should  say,  "  In  the  days  of 
Queen  Victoria,"  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years  would  be  covered  by  the 
expression;  and  so  here,  by  the  expression  " in  the  days,"  some  length 
of  time  is  indicated,  viz.,  1260  days,  with  such  shortening  as  God  has  in- 
timated he  will  make ;  for  except  those  days  be  shortened,  no  flesh  should 
be  saved. 

Following  the  sounding  of  this,  the  last  trumpet,  there  were  great 
voices  in  heaven,  joyous  that  the  end  was  so  near ;  and  anticipating  the 
fact  that  a  change  of  this  world's  sovereignty  was  about  to  take  place, 
after  the  short  period  allotted  for  the  vials  should  have  ended  ;  and  their 
exultant  cry  is,  "the  kingdom  of  the  world  is  become  our  Lord's  and 
his  Christ's,  and  he  shall  reign  to  the  ages  of  the  ages."  Satan  is,  de 
facto,  its  ruler  novv^,  but  the  kingdom  is  coming  which  breaks  Satan's  in 
pieces  and  consumes  all  other  kingdoms,  and  it  stands  forever.  In  keep- 
ing with  what  Faul  tells  us  in  1  Corinthians,  fifteenth  chapter,  we  find 
that  the  time  of  the  dead  to  be  judged  and  to  receive  their  reward  will 
then  come.  These  are,  of  course,  only  the  holy  dead.  The  judgment  of 
the  unholy  dead  (see  xx.,  12)  will  be  referred  to  in  my  next  lecture.'  It 
comes  1000  years  later. 

The  Revelator  then  proceeds  to  recite  the  history  of  the  events  to 
transpire  in  the  short  period  of  the  1260  days  allotted  to  the  reign  of  the 
Antichrist.  He  sees  a  great  sign  or  symbol,  as  the  term  may  suggest,  in 
heaven,  a  woman,  gorgeously  arrayed;  and  she  was  in  pain  to  be  deliv- 
ered of  a  child.  The  interpretation  of  this  twelfth  chapter  has  been  a 
great  puzzle  to  nearly  all  writers,  for  the  reason  that,  nearly  all  were  his- 
torical interpreters.  Most  of  them  have  taken  the  woman  to  be  the 
Christian  Church,  and  a  great  many  have  thought  that  the  man  child 
was  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  would  have  made  the  church  his 
mother.  Elliott,  in  his  Horae  Apocaly plicae,  makes  the  "  man  child  "  to 
be  Constantine  himself.  From  our  stand-point,  that  the  time  and  the 
events  are  those  of  "the  day  of  the  Lord,"  such  alleged  fulfillments  of 
the  seals,  trumpets  and  vials  as  the  historical  interpreters  give  us,  seem 
superlatively  trifling  and  frivolous,  even  though  they  were  the  fancies  of 
good  men  acting  under  a  mistaken  bias.  We  dare  not  handle  God's 
Word  in  such  a  way.  The  minuteness  and  exactness  with  which  all 
prophecy  has  been  heretofore  fulfilled  would  of  itself  require  us  to  reject 


22  The  Eevelation. 

all  these  wild  speculations  and  guesses,  for  they  are  nothing  else,  as 
every  way  unbecoming  God's  Word  ;  and  yet  no  better  could  have  been 
done  in  trying  to  fit  these  events  to  the  past  1800  years.  This  "woman- 
is  the  Jewish-Christian  Church,  originating  in  the  time  of  the  great  trib- 
ulation; and  in  the  millennium  beyond,  she  will  be  the  earthly  bride  of 
the  Lord.  The  Gentile-Christian  Church  will  have  before  this  died  out 
as  a  Christian  church ;  nearly  all  of  its  genuine  members  will  have  been 
martyred,  and  its  nominal  ones  will  have  taken  the  mark  of  the  Anti- 
christ ;  so  that  what  is  left  of  Christianity  v/ill  be  almost  entirely  em- 
bodied in  this  Jewish-Christian  Church,  which  will  be  a  new  organiza- 
tion, a  regrafting  of  the  original  branches  into  their  own  olive  tree — a 
new  church  ;  and  in  order  to  save  the  lives  of  her  members,  will  retreat 
to  "the  wilderness"  in  which  the  Jews  after  their  exodus  imder  Moses, 
spent  forty  years ;  and  will  be  there  preserved  from  tlie  attacks  of  the 
Antichrist.  It  is  the  time  of  Jacob's  trouble,  but  he  shall  be  saved  out 
of  it. 

At  the  end  of  the  1260  days,  this  same  new-born  Church,  in  her  beau- 
tiful attire,  symbolized  by  her  being  clothed  with  the  sun  and  the  moon 
under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars,  emerges  from 
her  hiding  place  where  she  has  been  cared  for  and  nourislied  of  God,  and 
the  cry  will  come  forth  from  the  other  bride,  she  who  will  have  come 
down  from  heaven  behind  her  Lord,  saying :  "  Who  is  this,  that  cometh 
up  from  the  wilderness  leaning  upon  her  beloved  ?  "  The  heavenly  wife 
and  the  earthly  bride  will  have  one  common  Lord  and  Savior,  and  their 
relative  positions  will  then  be  ascertained,  and  joyfully  acquiesced  in. 
The  Jerusalem  from  above  and  that  from  beneath  will  come  into  such 
close  relation  as  to  be  almost  one  in  glory  together,  and  with  means  of 
intercommunication  perhaps,  like  the  ladder  which  Jacob  saw  connect- 
ing heaven  and  earth. 

■Another  sign  or  symbol  was  seen  in  heaven,  and  behold  a  great  red 
dragon,  who  is  Satan,  having  "  seven  heads  and  ten  horns"  and  upon 
these  heads  seven  diadems,  stood  ready  to  destroy  the  child  of  the  woman 
as  soon  as  it  was  born.  By  the  "  man  child  "  is  represented  the  144,000 
Jews  of  chapter  xiv.,  1.  Tliey  are,  I  think,  an  election  from  among  the 
people  of  Israel  for  the  earthly  kingdom  about  to  be  set  up.  These  were 
at  first  caught  up  to  heaven  (xii.,  5)  and  so  protected  from  the  dragon, 
but  subsequently  they  are  found  standing  on  mount  Zion  witli  the  Lamb 
(XIV.,  1).  I  see  no  reason  to  conclude  that  they  are  the  same  as  the 
144,000  of  Rev.  vii.,  who  were  probably  put  to  death,  and  translated  in 
the  company  of  martyrs  as  seen  at  vii.,  9. 

The  "  seven  heads"  with  their  diadems  are  the  seven  world-mon- 
archies which  have  ruled  the  world  since  the  days  of  Nimrod  the  rebel 
and  builder  of  Babylon,  to  this  time.  They  are,  those  of  Egypt,  Assyria, 
Babylon,  Persia,  Greece,  Rome  and  that  future  kingdom  to  be  represent- 
ed by  the  "ten  horns,"  or  the  Roman  empire  redivivus  in  its  ten  toe 
kingdoms.  The  dragon,  i.  e.,  Satan,  is  seen  wearing  tlie  crowns  of  all 
the  governments  of  earth. 

In  the  thirteenth  chapter  we  have  this  future  government  symbolized 


Chapteus  IX.,  15  TO  XIX.,  10.  23 

by  a  "  wild  beast,"  instituted,  to  wliose  king  the  great  red  dragon  gives 
his  power  and  his  throne  and  great  authority.  Tlie  "  beast"  looked  like 
a  "  leopard  "  which  was  tlie  tlurd  of  Daniel's  beasts,  or  that  of  the 
Grecian  empire.  This  suggests  that  there  is  to  be  a  reviviscence  of  that 
kingdom  in  its  four  divisions,  as  indeed  is  intimated  in  Dan.  viii.,  23 
and  XI.,  4.  They  will  probably  form  four  of  the  ten  horns  and  "  out  of 
one  of  them  "  will  tlie  king,  the  Antichrist,  come  ! 

Another  "wild  beast"  (verse  11)  made  its  appearance.  It  is  the 
false  prophet,  one  of  that  mimic  diabolic  trinity  composed  of  the  great 
red  dragon,  the  beast  and  tlie  false  prophet.  lie  caused  all  to  worship 
the  beast  or  antichrist  and  did  great  miracles ;  bringing  fire  down  from 
heaven,  and  giving  breath  unto  the  image  of  the  beast  and  causing  it  to 
speak.  What  does  it  say  ?  It  gives  forth  three  utterances.  First :  "As 
many  as  will  not  worship  the  image  of  the  beast  shall  be  killed."  And 
second,  "  That  all  must  receive  a  mark  of  subjection  to  the  beast  in  their 
right  hand,  or  in  their  foreheads ;  "  and  third,  that  "  no  man  might  buy 
or  sell  that  did  not  have  the  mark,  the  name  of  the  beast  or  the  number 
of  the  name."  This  was  not  mere  ventriloquism  on  the  part  of  the  false 
prophet ;  it  was  a  miracle  and  it  made  its  impression  on  the  people. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  we  find  that  this  state  of  things,  having 
prevented  every  human  voice  from  preaching  to  men  of  God  and  his 
Christ,  angelic  ministries  instead  of  human  will  be  employed.  In  verse 
6,  an  angel  was  seen  flying  in  the  midst  of  heaven  preaching  the  ever- 
lasting Gospel  "  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  and  to  every  nation  and 
kindred  and  tongue  and  people,"  saying  in  a  loud  voice,  which  was  in- 
tended to  be,  and  certainly  will  be,  heard  by  all  to  whom  it  is  addressed : 
"Fear  God  and  give  him  glory,  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is  come; 
and  worship  him  that  made  heaven  and  earth  and  sea  and  the  fountains 
of  waters."  In  effect,  this  was  saying,  Worship  the  true  God:  do  not 
worship  the  Antichrist.  It  fulfills  the  Savior's  prophecy  as  at  Matt,  xxiv., 
14,  "  And  this  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole 
world  for  a  testimony  unto  all  the  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come." 
It  was  in  this  marvelous  way,  and  at  this  terrible  time,  the  Lord  intended 
this  prophecy  of  Matthew  to  be  fulfilled. 

A  second  angel  followed,  predicting  the  fall  of  Babylon,  because  she 
had  made  "  all  nations  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication." 
A  third  angel  followed  them,  saying  with  a  loud  voice — warning  the 
whole  world,  "  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  receive 
his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand,  the  same  shall  drink  of  the 
wine  of  the  wrath  of  God  which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the 
cup  of  his  indignation ;  and  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb ; 
and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  forever  and  ever ;  and  they 
have  no  rest  day  or  night,  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image  and 
whosoever  receiveth  the  mark  of  his  name." 

What  more  could  God  have  done  to  warn  man  and  save  him  than  is 
here  described  !  But  yet  another  voice  from  heaven  was  heard,  and  this 
time  it  is  addressed  to  God's  loved  ones  who  were  suffering  martyrdom 


24  The  Eevelation. 

at  tlie  liands  of  the  Antichrist,  and  the  lieavenly  speaker  says :  "  Blessed 
are  tlie  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth."  You  have  been 
subjected  to  the  severest  test  tliat  has  ever  been  imposed  on  man,  and 
have  shown  your  love  and  loyalty  to  me ;  yea,  blessed  are  all  they  who 
thus  die,  from  this  time  onward  through  the  great  tribulation. 

The  harvest  of  the  earth  was  reported  as  now  fully  ripe,  and  was 
reaped;  but  as  in  the  first  half  of  the  week,  before  the  trumpet  inflic- 
tions, there  was  the  resurrection  and  translation  of  a  great  multitude, 
that  could  not  be  numbered  ;  so  now,  before  the  vials  are  poured  out, 
there  is  a  translation  of  those  who  had  gotten  the  victory  over  the  beast 
and  over  his  image  and  over  his  mark  and  over  the  number  of  his  name, 
and  they  are  seen  standing  on  the  sea  of  glass  having  the  harps  of  God. 
They  sing  the  song  of  Moses,  and  the  Lamb ;  intimating  thereby  the 
Jewish  character  of  the  persecution. 

What  the  interval  of  the  time  after  the ''  harvest "  gathering  and  unto 
the  epiphany  of  the  Lord  is  not  stated.  Doubtless  there  will  be  some  con- 
versions outside  of  Jerusalem  during  the  time,  and  when  Jesus  at  his 
descent  to  earth  disposes  of  the  living  people  on  the  earth,  separating 
them  into  sheep  and  goats,  these  sheep  will  not  be  of  the  body,  the  church, 
for  their  limited  number  was  completed  at  the  harvest  translation. 
Though  few,  they  will  be  probably,  with  the  members  of  the  newly 
formed  church  at  Jerusalem,  the  heads  of  tlie  human  family  during  the 
millenium. 

Following  the  harvest  gathering,  there  was  the  dejection  of  the  vine 
of  the  earth  into  the  great  wine  press  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  it  was 
trodden  so  that  blood  came  out  of  the  wine  press  even  unto  the  horse 
bridles  by  the  space  of  a  thousand  and  six  hundred  furlongs.  What  this 
imports,  I  confess  I  do  not  know,  further  than  that  those  whom  the  vine 
symbolizes  are  those  to  be  crushed  by  the  just  vengeance  of  the 
Almighty. 

The  seventh  trumpet,  having  emitted  the  seven  vials  some  time 
before  this,  they  are  now  soon  to  be  poured  out  in  succession,  and  are 
more  intense  and  universal  as  chastisements  than  the  seals  and  trumpets 
that  preceded,  because  "'  in  them  is  filled  up  the  wrath  of  God,''  and  when 
they  are  concluded,  as  before  stated,  "  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be  fin- 
ished." What  is  a  mystery  but  that  which  is  secret  and  can  only  be 
known  by  a  revelation  V  Then  "the  mystery  "  will  be  solved;  and  all 
God's  ways  will  be  seen  to  have  been  just,  and  right  in  every  respect. 
The  programme  God  has  planned  and  is  carrying  out  will  then  appear, 
in  its  outlines,  sufficiently  to  evoke  the  universal  praise  and  wonder  of 
all  his  creatures.  I^o  longer  will  it  be  asked  "  Why  did  God  permit 
evil  V  "  His  mercy  in  so  long  tolerating  sin  and  sinners  and  tliis  cursed 
creation  under  the  rule  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  will  then  be  an  eter- 
nal cause  of  wonder,  and  it  will  be  magnified  beyond  degree.  With  the 
commencement  of  the  second  half  of  the  week,  the  rider  on  the  white 
horse,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  week  (vi.,  1-2),  had  gone  forth  conquer- 
ing and  to  conquer,  has  now  become,  with  the  advent  of  the  two  wild 
beasts  of  chapter  thirteenth,  the  master  of  the  whole  world,  and  finding 


Chapters  IX.,  15  to  XIX.,  10.  25 

all  men  subservient  to  his  will,  he  asserts  new  claims  and  assumes  a  new 
attitude  towards  all.  Satan  has  made  him  the  same  proposal  he  did  the 
man  Jesus  Christ,  to  give  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  and  the  glory 
of  them,  on  certain  conditions,  and  he  has  accepted  the  offer,  and  the  Jews 
have  accepted  him,  as  Jesus  told  them  (John  v.,  43),  they  would ;  and  he, 
the  conqueror,  now  become  the  Antichrist,  is  henceforth  energized  by 
Satan,  and  does  mighty  miracles,  so  that  every  human  being  on  the 
earth,  whose  name  is  not  written  in  the  book  of  life  will  be  deceived  by 
him,  6  ho(T/wT?di'oc,  "the  world  deceiver,"  as  the  Greek  fathers  called  him. 
lie  exacts  divine  honors,  and  as  a  test  of  loyalty  to  himself  requires  what 
his  speaking  image  had  demanded,  that  every  one  shall  have  his  mark 
enstamped  upon  his  hand  or  forehead.  No  one,  without  the  mark,  shall 
be  allowed  to  buy  or  sell ;  and  as  fast  as  the  officers  of  government  can 
lay  their  hands  on  such  as  refuse  to  comply,  they  will  put  to  death.  "All 
the  world  shall  wonder  after  the  beast,  and  they  shall  say,  AVho  is  able  to 
make  war  with  the  beast  ?  "  Under  his  persecutions,  the  saints  of  God, 
among  the  Gentiles,  will  then  have  become  as  scarce  on  earth,  to  use  the 
figure  of  Isaiah,  as  the  remaining  grapes  after  the  vintage  has  been 
gathered. 

The  Jewish  people,  however,  whom  the  Antichrist  had  regarded  as 
haters  of  Christ,  have  now  a  Jewish-Christian  church  among  them,  with 
many  members,  the  result  of  the  labors  of  the  two  witnesses  who  had 
been  evangelizing  among  them.  The  prince  had  heard  from  time  to 
time  of  their  successful  work,  and  had  made  many  attempts  to  take  their 
lives,  but  always  unsuccessfully.  But  now.  as  seen  in  the  last  lecture, 
he  breaks  his  seven  years'  covenant  with  the  Jews,  in  the  middle  of  the 
week,  and  is  permitted  by  providence  to  kill  these  two  witnesses,  at 
which  he  and  his  followers  are  made  very  happy,  and  glorify  themselves ; 
and  he,  then,  flushed  with  his  great  success,  sets  his  image  in  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem  to  be  worshipped,  but,  at  the  end  of  three  days  and  a  half 
from  the  killing,  the  bodies  of  these  witnesses,  having  been  left  lying  in 
the  street  of  the  city,  came  to  life  again,  and  they  mounted  up  to  heaven, 
on  hearing  a  great  voice  saying  "  Come  up  hither,"  their  enemies  be- 
holding them.  The  prince  and  his  followers,  having  made  a  covenant 
with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell,  are  indifferent  to  all  argument, 
or  evidence,  as  much  so  as  was  Pharaoh  of  old ;  and  are  only  hardened 
by  this  miraculous  display  of  God's  power ;  and  the  persecution  of  the 
Jewish-Christian  Church  (the  symbolic  woman  of  xii.,  1)  becomes  now 
the  intense  object  of  the  Antichrist's  pursuit. 

In  the  sixteenth  chapter  we  have  the  pouring  out  of  the  seven  vials, 
or  bowls,  into  the  earth,  and  the  physical  effects  produced.  After  the 
sixth  bowl  was  poured  out,  there  came  three  unclean  spirits  which  are 
defined  as  the  spirits  of  demons  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  mimic  trinity, 
the  dragon,  beast  and  false  prophet ;  and  they  went  about  "  working 
signs,"  seeking  to  gather  the  "  kings  of  the  whole  world  "  unto  the  war  of 
the  great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty.  There  is  to  be  such  a  battle,  and 
Satan  knows  it ;  and  is  making  preparation  in  advance.  It  is  to  take 
place  at  Harmagedon. 


26  The  Revelation. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  last ;  the  seventh  bowl  is  then  poured  out, 
and  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  in  heaven  was  heard  saying,  "It  is 
done."  There  were  lightnings  and  voices  and  thunders ;  and  there  was  a 
great  earthquake  and  the  great  city  was  divided  into  three  parts,  and  the 
cities  of  tlie  nations  fell ;  and  Babylon  the  great  was  remembered  to  give 
unto  them  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of  God's  wrath,  and  every 
island  fled  and  the  mountains  were  not  found ;  and  great  hail  came  down 
out  of  heaven  upon  men,  causing  men  to  blaspheme  God  because  of  its 
plague. 

In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  chapters  we  have  an  account  of  the 
end  reached  by  "the  church"  through  her  entanglement  with  "tlie 
state."    Under  the  figure  of  a  "  woman  "  we  have  first,  a  political,  world- 
serving  church,  sitting  on  a  "  scarlet-colored  beast."     And  again  the 
same  woman  is  spoken  of  as  being  "  the  great  city,"  the  capital  city  of 
that  great  world-empire  which  is  spoken  of  as  a  "  scarlet-colored  beast," 
and  upon  which  the  woman  sits.     She  is  called  "the  great  city"  to  inti- 
mate and  intensify  her  political  connection  with  the  state.    She  resides 
in  Babylon  that  is  to  be  rebuilt,  and  she  will  be  used  by  the  Antichrist. 
Lange  says,  "that  the  woman  here  depicted  is  significant  of  the  fallen 
church,  there  can  be  no  doubt."    She  is  described  by  reason  of  this  con- 
nection as  the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations,  (i.  e.,  idolatries)  of 
earth.    She  is  clothed,  imperially,  in  purple  and  scarlet  and  decked  with 
gold  and  precious  stones  and  pearls.    Every  human  glory  and  ornament 
is  on  her.    She  is  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  prophets  and  of  the  saints 
and  of  all  that  have  been  slain  upon  the  earth.     She  is  found  sitting  on 
the  beast  of  chapter  13,  and  the  beast  that  carrieth  her  hath  "  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns,"  and  these  "  seven  heads  "  are  subsequently  described  as 
"  seven  mountains."   These  are  not  the  "  seven  hills  "  upon  which  Eome 
is  builded.    A  "mountain"  is  a  beautiful  symbol  0/  a  universal  world- 
I'ingdom,  vide  Jer.  li.,  25,  and  Dan.  11.,  35.    At  the  reference  in  Jere- 
miah, God  is  speaking  to  Babylon,  and  says ;  "  Behold,  I  am  against  thee, 
O  destroying  mountain,  saith  the  Lord,  which  destroyeth  all  the  earth ; 
and  I  will  stretch  out  mine  hand  upon  thee  and  roll  thee  down  from  the 
rocks  and  will  make  thee  a  burnt  mountain."    And  in  Daniel  the  stone 
that  smote  Nebuchadnezzar's  image  became  a  great  mountain  and  filled 
the  whole  earth.    Of  these  seven  heads  or  mountains  it  is  said  five 
have  fallen,  namely,    Egypt,  Assyria,    Babylon,   Persia    and    Greece. 
One  is  existent,  that  is  Rome,  and  the  other  is  to  come,  that  is  the 
Roman  empire  resuscitated,  represented  by  the  "ten  horns"  which  are 
"ten  kings"  that  have  received  no  kingdom  as  yet,  but  shall  receive 
authority  as  kings  with  the  beast,  for  one  hour ;  and  by  these  seven  uni- 
versal world  powers,  filling  up  the  interval  from  shortly  after  the  Flood 
until  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  is  this  "great  harlot,"  this  Gentile 
professing  Christian  Church  that  was,  but  now  become  a  debauched, 
secularized  and  world-serving  church,  seen  to  be  carried.    It  is  upon  the 
whole  of  the  seven-headed  beast  that  she  sits.    The  book  regards  the 
whole  seven  heads  as  one  continuous  despotic  government  whose  whole 
animus   is,  and  has  been   from  the  beginning,  idol-serving  in  oppo- 


Chapters  IX.,  15  to  XIX.,  10.  27 

sition  to  God.  These  world  powers  at  first  corrupted  and  ruined  tlie 
Jewish  Church,  in  a  large  part,  for  near  one  thousand  years  before  the 
first  coming  of  Jesus ;  and  the  Christian  Church  after  a  lapse  of  three 
hundred  years,  during  whicli  she  was  a  chaste  virgin,  was  bribed  and 
bought  over  and  so  remains  after  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  will  to  the 
end,  in  cohabitation  with  the  world-powers  as  their  adulteress  bride. 

When  John  saw  the  church  under  this  aspect,  "  he  wondered  with 
great  wonder,"  but  he  soon  saw  that  this  long-continued  intercourse  was 
to  come  to  a  bitter  end,  for  the  governments  represented  by  the  ten  horns 
and  the  beast  "  shall  hate  the  harlot  and  make  her  desolate,  and  shall  eat 
her  flesh  and  shall  burn  her,  utterly,  with  fire." 

And  now  the  judgment  is  about  to  come  upon  her  guilty  partner,  the 
world-power,  whose  seat  of  government  is  at  Babylon.  She  is  about  to 
fall ;  and  the  prediction  of  Isa.  xiii.,  16,  19  is  about  to  be  fulfilled,  "  and 
Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldees'  excellency, 
shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah." 

But  this  is  to  be  (verse  9)  when  the  "  day  of  the  Lord  cometh."  This 
day  has  not  come,  nor  was  ancient  Babylon  destroyed  as  were  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  therefore  Babylon  must  be  re-existent  when  "  the  day  of 
the  Lord"  does  come.  The  destruction  of  ancient  Babylon  was  slow 
and  gradual.  It  was  a  populated  city  for  a  thousand  years  after  Cyrus 
took  it.  Alexander  the  Great  lived  and  died  there.  In  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  Peter  and  Bartholomew  preached  there.  Five  hundred  years 
after  Christ  there  were  Jewish  academies  there,  and  the  Babylonian  Tal- 
mud was  issued  from  there.  Isaiah's  prediction,  then,  has  not  been  ful- 
filled ;  the  destruction  of  the  Babylon  that  shall  be,  when  it  occurs,  is  to 
be  sudden  and  terrific  as  was  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  In  the  fif- 
tieth and  fifty-first  chapters  of  Jeremiah,  we  have  a  reference  to  the 
future  Babylon,  and  to  the  return  of  the  ten  lost  tribes,  and  together 
with  them,  the  children  of  Judah,  "weeping  and  seeking  the  Lord," 
when  the  prophecy  is  fulfilled.  In  the  fifty-first  chapter  there  are  strik- 
ing parallels  between  it  and  the  seventeenth  of  Kevelation. 

From  the  eighteenth  chapter,  it  is  clear  that  the  city  Babylon,  which 
is  yet  to  be,  will  have  a  great  commerce ;  and  that  the  merchants  of  the 
earth  will  "wax  rich"  by  the  power  of  her  luxury,  and  when  "the 
smoke  of  her  burning  "  is  seen  ascending  they  will  be  "  standing  afar  off 
for  fear,"  weeping  and  mourning  over  her,  for  no  man  buyeth  their  mer- 
chandise any  more— merchandise  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones 
and  pearls,  etc.,  etc.,  in  all  twenty-eight  several  specifications;  and  their 
astonishment  will  be  that  "in  one  hour  "  so  great  riches  is  made  deso- 
late ;  and  this,  her  destruction,  will  be  a  simple  execution  of  the  judg- 
ment against  her,  which  will  have  been  rendered  in  the  celestial  court 
by  the  saints  and  apostles  and  prophets,  for  we  read  in  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion, in  the  twentieth  verse,  "  Rejoice  over  her,  thou  heavens,  and  ye 
saints,  and  ye  apostles,  and  ye  prophets,  for  God  hath  judged  your  judg- 
ment on  her."  What  a  picture  we  have  here  of  the  world,  and  of  the 
church  as  ruined  by  association  with  it!  Is  this  not  " a  present  evil 
world  ?  "    As  Christians  we  are  in  the  world,  but  not  of  it.    The  world 


28  The  Revelation. 

should  be  regarded  as  crucified  to  us  and  we  to  it,  liaving  forfeited 
citizenship  here  to  acquire  it  in  the  other  coming  world  ;  for  our  citizen- 
ship is  in  heaven. 

If  the  creed  of  the  church  were  what  it  was  for  the  first  300  years  of 
her  history,  this  doctrine  would  be  the  pride  and  joy  of  the  Christian. 

After  the  destruction  of  Babylon,  and  the  command  to  give  praise 
over  this  execution  of  judgment,  there  is  great  joy  in  heaven.  Hallelujah 
and  salvation  are  sung.  The  elders  and  four  living  creatures  fall  down 
and  worship,  and  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude  was  heard,  saying, 
"Hallelujah!  for  the  Lord  omnipotent  reigneth."  Then  there  was  an 
invitation  to  rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad,  and  to  give  him  the  gloiy ; 
for  the  harlot's  day  is  about  over  and  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  about 
to  take  place,  and  his  wife-to-be,  the  church,  hath  made  herself  ready, 
it  being  given  to  her  to  array  herself  in  fine  linen,  pure  and  white.  All 
preparations  having  been  made,  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom  meet,  and 
gaze  at  each  other  with  infinite  satisfaction  and  delight !  She  loves  him 
because  she  is  so  fondly  loved  by  him.  The  marriage  is  solemnized  in 
heaven ;  and  she  has  now  become  "  the  wife  of  the  Lamb."  In  the  bride- 
groom dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  godhead  bodily,  and  there  will  be 
no  restraining  its  fullest  and  most  glorious  manifestation.  As  to  the 
bride,  how  shall  it  be  in  this  respect  ? 

She  will  undoubtedly  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  to  so  large  a  de- 
gree as  to  be  a  fit  partner,  a  sharer,  in  all  that  is  distinctively  his ;  and 
then  shall  be  fulfilled  the  saying  of  the  Lord  at  John  x.,  34,  "  I  said,  ye 
are  gods;"  and  the  Scripture,  quoting  from  Ps.  lxxxii.,  6,  which  pre- 
dicted this  consummation,  "  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken."  Doubt- 
less there  have  been  many  of  the  saints  present  as  invited  guests  on  the 
interesting  occasion,  who  were  not  of  the  body  composing  the  bride. 
Would  it  not  be  a  strange  wedding  if  only  bride  and  groom  were  present  ? 
Both  groom  and  bride  have  their  attendants.  We  read  of  "  the  greatest" 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  and  also  of  the  "least,"  showing  that  there 
will  be  various  degrees  of  glory  in  the  kingdom.  Some  of  the  king's 
jewels  will  shine  as  the  sun,  others  as  the  moon,  others  as  the  stars,  each 
differing  in  glory. 

Every  minister,  missionary,  teacher  and  worker  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  male  or  female,  if  faithful  on  earth  and  just  in  the  degree  in 
which  they  are  faithful,  will  then  have  high,  higher,  highest  place  in 
heaven,  and  be  like  to  the  resplendent  luminaries  in  the  firmament  of 
Jehovah's  power  and  glory  when  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  have  come. 
What  an  encouragement !  Let  us  covet  earnestly  the  best  of  gifts. 

In  the  so-called  parable  of  the  ten  virgins,  although  the  book  does 
not  speak  of  it  as  a  parable,  we  must  conclude,  since  they  \Yere  all  vir- 
gins, and  their  virginity  was  untarnished,  that  they  were  all  believers, 
and  saved  persons ;  for  the  term  "  virgin  "  is  never  applied  to  the  ungod- 
ly and  impure.  Five  of  these  were  wise  and  five  were  foolish.  The  pre- 
ceding context  shows  that  the  Lord  had  come  down  into  the  air,  and  the 
eagle,  or  ready  saints  had  been  already  "  taken  "  as  in  Matt,  xxiv.,  39-41. 
They,  the  virgins,  were  all  bidden  to  the  marriage  feast  which  follows 


Chapteks  IX.,  15  TO  XIX.,  10.  29 

the  weddiug.  All  wished  to  accept  the  invitation,  but  only  five  were 
ready,  and  went  in ;  after  which  the  door  was  shut.  The  five  foolish 
virgins,  not  being  ready,  were  among  those  who  were  ''left"  to  go 
through  the  horrors  and  the  discipline  of  the  "great  tribulation,"  which 
was  then  immediately  to  come  as  a  snare  on  all  "  the  dwellers,''  as  Luke 
XXI.,  36  tells  us,  "  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth."  "  Watch  ye,  there- 
fore, and  pray  always,"  is  the  advice  that  follows,  that  ye  may  be  ac- 
counted worthy  to  escape,  literally  to  fly  away  from,  all  these  things  that 
shall  come  to  pass,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man. 

Following  the  Jewish  custom,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  after  the 
wedding  festivities  were  over,  there  was  a  marriage  supper,  and  there 
were  there  present  invited  guests.  Who  are  the  guests  ?  I  have  already 
intimated  that  there  is  a  class  of  saints  who  did  not  look  or  care  for  the 
Lord's  coming,  of  whose  translation  no  mention  is  made.  And  yet,  as 
being  "  in  Christ,"  they  must  have  been  translated.  These  unwatchful 
and  unready  ones  are  they,  probably,  who  are  the  invited  guests.  It  is" 
no  empty  honor  to  be  thus  invited,  for  it  is  written,  "Blessed  are  they 
which  are  bidden  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb  !" 

Then  the  voice  added  :  "These  are  the  true  words  of  God."  John 
was  so  overcome  by  this  communication,  it  was  so  marvelous  and  so 
gracious,  that  he  was  moved  to  fall  down  "to  worship"  him  that  com- 
municated the  good  news,  when  he  was  restrained,  by  his  telling  him 
that  he  was  a  fellow-servant  and  of  his  brethren,  one  of  that  glorious 
company  of  the  redeemed,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven ;  and  he 
bade  him  "worship  God,"  adding  those  instructive  words:  "For  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy." 


LECTURE  FOURTH. 

BEGINS  XIX.,  11,  AND  GOES  THROUGH  THE  BOOK. 

The  closing  scene  in  the  last  half  of  the  week  of  "  the  great  tribula- 
tion" is  the  long-predicted  battle.  To  this  end  we  have  the  Son  of 
Man's  personal  coming  to  earth.  John  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold  a 
white  horse,  and  he  that  sat  thereon  was  called  "  faithful  and  true,"  and 
in  righteousness  doth  he  judge  and  make  the  war  which  is  about  to  be 
made.  His  eyes  are,  therefore,  "like  a  flame  of  fire,"  and,  as  he  is  to 
dispossess  the  tyrant  who  has  for  6000  years  dominated  this  ruined  crea- 
tion, and  take  to  himself  his  great  power  and  reign,  there  are  seen  upon 
his  head  many  "  diadems;  "  and  he  is  arrayed  in  a  garment  sprinkled  with 
blood;  and  his  name  is  called  "the  Word  of  God."  He  is  followed  by 
armies  out  of  heaven  upon  white  horses  also,  and  the  riders  are  clothed 
in  white  linen  fine  and  pure ;  while  out  of  his  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp 
sword  that  with  it  he  should  smite  the  nations,  and  he  treadeth  the  wine 
press  of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  Almighty  God ;  and  hath  on  his 
thigh  a  name  written,  "  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords." 

In  view  of  the  destruction,  soon  to  be  effected,  of  the  army  which  was 
now  assembled  at  Jerusalem,  an  angel  was  heard  to  cry  with  a  loud  voice 
to  all  birds  that  fly  in  heaven,  to  come  up  and  gather  together  unto  the 
great  supper  of  God,  that  they  might  eat  of  the  flesh  of  kings,  and  of 
captains,  and  of  horses,  and  of  all  men  free  and  bond,  small  and  great. 

And  now  the  beast,  and  kings,  and  their  armies  are  gathered  together 
to  make  war  against  him  who  was  coming  down  out  of  heaven,  and 
against  his  army.  In  the  second  Psalm  we  see  a  picture  like  this.  "We 
read  that  the  Gentiles  have  assembled,  and  that  the  people  shall  medi- 
tate a  vain  thing ;  the  kings  of  the  earth  have  set  themselves  together 
against  the  Lord  and  against  his  Messiah ;  and  he  that  sitteth  in  the 
heavens  shall  laugh  at  them,  the  Lord  will  mock  at  them ;  then  will  he 
speak  unto  them  in  his  anger,  and  in  his  wrath  will  he  trouble  them. 
Jfotwithstanding  that  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  had  all  this  great 
army  about  them,  they,  individually,  were  selected  out  of  the  mass  and  the 
twain  were  taken  up  and  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire  that  burneth  with 
brimstone.  This  lake  was  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,  and  its 
fire  was  now  lighted  for  the  first  time,  I  suppose.  Into  the  same  lake, 
Satan  will  be  cast  1000  years  hence;  but  in  the  meanwhile  he  is  to  be 
imprisoned;  an  angel  comes  down  from  heaven  having  the  key  of  " the 
abyss  "  and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand,  and  he  laid  hold  of  the  dragon,  the 
old  serpent,  that  is  the  devil  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  for  1000  years; 
and  cast  him  into  the  abyss,  and  shut  him  up  in  it ;  and  sealed  it  over  him, 
that  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no  more  until  the  1000  years  should 
be  finished.    After  that,  he  must  be  loosed  for  a  little  time,  in  order  that 


32  The  Eevelation. 

he  may  successfully  incite  the  nations  again  to  a  revolt.  In  the  interval, 
between  the  disposing  of  the  Antichrist  with  the  false  prophet  and  the 
binding  of  Satan,  the  Gentile  army,  of  many  millions,  were  slain  by  the 
sword  which  proceeded  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  descending  king.  He 
needed  no  help  from  the  army  which  accompanied  him.  It  was  his  own 
individual,  miraculous  performance. 

And  then  John  saw  "thrones;"  and  they,  that  is  the  body  of  the 
saved  represented  by  the  twenty-four  elders,  sat  upon  these  thrones, 
and  judgment  was  given  unto  them.  They  are  forever  hereafter  to 
sit  as  co-justices  with  the  king.  They  form  Christ's  cabinet;  and  a 
large  one  is  needed ;  for  his  kingdom  is  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  uni- 
verse of  God,  and  eternal  likewise.  The  subjects  of  it  are  to  be  men  in 
the  flesh  who  shall  never  die,  they  nor  their  children  or  children's 
children ;  and  they  sliall  have  this  celestial  body  of  choice  ones  for  rul- 
ers, who  were  once  themselves  in  the  flesh,  but  who  now  have  spiritual 
bodies,  like  Christ,  and  shall  be  every  way  fitted  and  qualified  for  this 
high  position  by  the  abundant  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Then  he  saw  another,  a  second  class,  of  the  saved,  represented  by  the 
souls  of  them  that  had  been  beheaded  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  and  for 
the  Word  of  God.  These  are  they  who  suffered  during  the  first  half  of 
the  week,  under  the  Gentile  persecution,  and  it  is  stated  they  suffered 
death  through  the  process  of  beheading.  Then  he  saw,  still,  a  third 
class,  namely,  such  as  worshipped  not  the  beast,  neither  his  image,  and 
received  not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead  or  upon  their  hand.  These 
are  they,  wlio,  or  most  of  whom,  if  not  all,  have  suffered  martyrdom, 
during  the  last  half  of  the  week,  under  the  Antichrist,  by  various  pro- 
cesses of  torture,  it  is  inferred,  since  no  one  in  particular  is  specified. 
These  three  companies  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  1000  years ;  and  they 
will  continue  to  reign  with  him  beyond  the  millenium  in  the  new  order 
of  things  then  to  be  established,  and  that  forever.  The  rest  of  the  dead, 
meaning  the  unholy  dead,  lived  not  until  the  1000  years  should  be  finish- 
ed; and  this  is  called  the  first  resurrection.  None  but  the  blessed  and 
holy  have  part  in  that  resurrection.  Over  these  the  second  death  hath  no 
power,  and  they,  that  is  the  three  classes  above  described,  having  had 
part  in  the  first  resurrection,  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and 
shall  reign  with  him  during  the  thousand  years ;  and  when  the  thousand 
years  are  expired,  Satan,  who  has  been  meanwhile  locked  up  in  "the 
abyss,"  is  now  released,  and  comes  forth  to  deceive  the  nations  which 
are  in  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  that  is,  in  the  whole  world.  It  is 
stated  that  the  Jews  will  never  apostatize  again ;  but  there  will  be  a 
Gentile  apostasy  at  the  end  of  the  millenium.  It  would  be  hardly  credi- 
ble under  the  circumstances  but  for  the  fact  being  clearly  stated  in  this 
book.  The  number  of  the  rebels  will  be  as  the  sands  of  the  sea.  They 
will  gather  under  Satan's  lead ;  and  they  will  come  up  over  the  breadth 
of  the  land — of  Palestine— and  will  compass  the  camp  of  the  saints 
about ;  and  fire  will  come  down  out  of  heaven  and  devour  them ;  and 
the  devil  that  deceiveth  them  will  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and 
brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  had  been  cast  one 


CHAPTKR   XIX.,    10   TO   THE   END   OF   THE   BOOK.  33 

thousand  years  before,  and  they,  the  three,  composing  the  mimic  diabol- 
ical trinity,  sliall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever  there- 
after. The  fact  that  the  two  human  beings  of  this  wicked  partnership 
have  existed  during  the  one  thousand  years  in  the  fire  of  hell,  ought  to 
furnish  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  literal  fulfilMent  of  the  sentence 
can  and  will  be  carried  out  now  that  they  are  joined  by  this  third  associ- 
ate, the  devil  himself. 

And  now  we  approach  tlie  end  of  the  raillenium.  A  great  wliite 
throne  is  seen,  a  throne  of  judgment,  and  John  saw  him  that  sat  upon  it, 
from  whose  face  the  present  heaven  and  earth  fled  away.  Peter  intimates 
to  us  that  it  was  at  this  time  that  they  should  be  burned  up,  for  he  says 
they  "are  reserved  luito  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition 
of  ungodly  men,"  and  now  the  unholy  dead,  the  great  and  small,  stand 
before  this  great  white  throne;  and  books  are  opened,  and  another  book 
was  opened  which  was  the  book  of  life,  and  the  dead,  meaning  the  un- 
holy dead,  Avere  judged  out  of  the  things  written  in  the  books  according 
to  their  works ;  and  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death 
and  Hades  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  them ;  and  they  were  judged 
every  man  according  to  his  works;  and  everyone  that  was  so  judged, 
was  of  necessity  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  ;  and  this  is  called  the  second 
death,  the  lake  of  fire.  And  henceforth  there  is  no  more  sea;  neither  is 
there  death  or  Hades.  Tliey  are  put  an  end  to  forever  judicially.  Satan 
has  had  the  power  of  death  and  the  gates  of  Hades,  but  now  Satan  has 
gone  and  these  too. 

The  millenium  is  now  closed,  and  thereon  the  earth  and  the  heavens 
liave  been  burned  up.  A  portion  of  the  human  family  has  been  saved, 
and  a  larger  portion  consigned  to  the  lake  of  fire.  Then  a  new  order  of 
things  supervenes ;  and  after  this  date,  tlie  first  Adam's  headship  having 
ceased  with  the  destruction  of  this  world,  the  second  Adam's  federal 
lieadship  begins,  and  applies  to  that  portion  of  the  race  that  is  now  to  be 
cleansed  and  is  to  continue,  and  multiply,  for  ever  and  ever  after.  A 
new  creation  is  to  come  into  existence  for  this  purpose,  and  one  which 
will  as  far  exceed  that  which  was  originally  created  for  the  first  Adam, 
as  the  second  Adam  is  more  noble  than  he.  And  the  race,  thus  standing 
in  federal  relation  to  him,  the  second  Adam,  and  to  be  hereafter  accounted 
as  his  seed,  will  multiply  to  all  eternity,  and  universal  salvation  will  nec- 
essarily follow  on  as  to  all  the  members  of  the  human  family  thereafter. 

A  description  of  post-millenial  times  now  follows.  John  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  have 
passed  aw^ay,  and  the  sea  is  no  more ;  and  he  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jeru- 
salem, coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  and  made  ready  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband,  and  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  was  heard, 
saying,  "  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  shall  dwell 
with  them ;  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  yea,  God  himself  shall  be  with 
them  and  be  their  God  ;  and  he  shall  wipe  away  their  tears  from  their 
eyes,  and  death  shall  be  no  more,  neither  shall  there  be  mourning,  nor 
crying,  nor  pain  any  more ;  "  and  he  that  sat  on  the  throne  saith,  "  Behold 
I  make  all  things  new."    Our  King  James'  Bible  contradicts,  and  I  am 


34  The  Kevelation. 

sorry  to  say,  the  new  version  does  also,  at  Isa.  lxv.,  17-20,  this  state- 
ment of  Rev.  XXI.,  4.  John  says,  "There  shall  be  no  more  death.'' 
Isaiah  is  incorrectly  made  to  say,  "  The  child  sliall  die  an  liundred  years 
old."  Both  Isaiah  and  John  are  speaking  of  the  same  time,  viz. :  the 
economy  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  eartli.  Isaiah,  after  introdncing 
the  economy  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  on  the  advent  of 
which  the  people  are  invited  to  "be  glad  "and  "to  rejoice  forever  "in 
that  which  God  has  then  created,  and  in  which  God  himself  says,  "  I  will 
rejoice  and  joy  in  my  people;"  then  proceeds  to  add:  "The  voice  of 
weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard  in  her,  nor  the  voice  of  crying.  There 
shall  be  no  more  thence  an  infant  of  days,  nor  an  old  man  that  hath  not 
filled  his  days,  nor,  that  the  child  shall  die  an  hundred  years  old ;  nor 
the  sinner  being  a  hundred  years  old  shall  be  accursed."  These  things 
will  occasionally  occur  during  the  millenium,  but  Isaiah  is  here  taking 
us  into  the  dispensation  which  succeeds  that,  and  is  contrasting  the  two. 
After  having  told  us  what  shall  not  be,  he  proceeds  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter,  to  tell  us  what  shall  be,  in  that  new  order  of  things. 

How  came  the  Revisers  to  make  this  mistake  in  translation  ?  That 
is  hard  to  answer,  unless  it  was  a  piece  of  carelessness  in  simply  follow- 
ing the  old  version.  This  is  a  case  of  ellipsis ;  and  it  is  so  common  in 
the  Hebrew  as  to  form  quite  a  feature  in  the  language.  The  negation  of 
the  first  clause  is  plainly  required,  though  not  expressed  in  the  second. 
j>^'7V'iior"  inserted  before  the  particle  ^3  which  should  be  rendered 
"that,"  and  Isaiah  is  made  to  harmonize  with  John,  Rev.  xxi.,  4,  and 
Paul,  1  Cor.  XV.,  26,  54. 

Then  there  came  one  of  the  seven  angels  who  had  had  (and  had  poured 
out)  one  of  the  seven  bowls  which  were  laden  with  the  seven  last  plagues, 
and  he  spake  with  John  saying,  "  Come  hither  and  I  will  show  thee  the 
bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,"  and  he  carried  him  away  in  the  Spirit  to  a  great 
mountain  and  showed  him  the  holy  city,  Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of 
heaven-  from  God,  having  the  glory  of  God.  Her  light  was  like  unto  a 
stone  most  precious,  as  it  were  a  jasper  stone  clear  as  crystal,  having  a 
wall  great  and  high,  and  having  twelve  gates,  and  at  the  gates  twelve 
angels,  and  names  written  thereon,  which  are  the  names  of  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel ;  and  the  wall  of  the  city  had  twelve  foundations  and  on 
them  twelve  names  with  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb.  And  the  angel 
that  spake  with  John  had  a  golden  reed  in  his  hand,  and  measured  the 
city  and  the  gates  and  the  wall  thereof.  Tlie  city  was  found  to  lie 
four-square,  and  the  length  thereof,  and  the  breadth  and  the  height 
thereof  were  equal,  and  it  measured  12,000  furlongs,  or  1500  miles  each 
way.  The  building  of  the  wall  thereof  was  jasper,  and  the  city  was  pure 
gold  like  unto  glass.  The  foundations  of  the  walls  of  the  city  were 
adorned  with  all  manner  of  precious  stones.  There  was  no  temple  there- 
in, for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  thereof ; 
and  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  upon 
it,  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it  (like  as  it  shone  about  the  shep- 
herds in  the  field,  and  they  were  sore  afraid  because  of  the  glory  which 
shone  round  about  them),  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof. 


Chapter  XIX.,  10  to  the  End  or  the  Book.  35 

There  will  be  two  Jerusalems  during  the  millenium,  the  one  from 
above,  the  heavenly,  just  described,  and  the  other  beneath,  the  earthly. 
As  there  are  two  Jerusalems,  there  are  two  brides.  The  heavenly  bride, 
tlie  church,  is  the  fii'st  married.  The  marriage  takes  place  in  heaven 
before  the  great  tribulation  ends ;  and  the  bride  comes  down  with  her 
Lord  at  the  time  of  his  return  to  eai-th.  The  earthly  bride,  the  Jewish 
nation,  is  married  after  this  tribulation  is  ended,  and  after  the  Son  of 
David  has  come  to  take  David's  throne  and  kingdom.  He  brings  her  up 
"out  of  the  wilderness,"  "leaning  upon  the  arm  of  her  beloved."  The 
first  is  married  to  the  Lamb,  the  second  to  the  king. 

The  earthly  Jerusalem  is  now  in  bondage,  with  her  children,  but 
"glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee,  O  city  of  God."  Heartily  should 
we  pray  for  "  the  peace  of  Jerusalem."  "  They  shall  prosper  that  love 
thee."  God  has  promised  to  do  good,  "  in  his  good  pleasure,  to  Zion." 
"  Build  thou  the  walls  of  Jerusalem."  Soon  she  shall  "  arise  and  shine, 
for  her  light  shall  have  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  risen 
upon  her." 

Xow  she  has  her  Avriting  of  divorcement,  and  God  has  said,  "  She  is 
not  my  wife,  neither  am  I  her  husband,"  but  she  is  to  be  received  back 
into  the  divine  favor  when  "the  set  time  to  favor  Zion"  has  come. 
Three  times  in  Hosea,  second  chapter,  Jehovah  says,  "I  will  betroth 
thee  unto  me  forever."  And  at  that  time,  "  Thou  shalt  call  me  Ishi," 
my  husband. 

All  the  Old  Testament  passages  alluding  to  the  bride  or  "  queen  "  (as 
Ps.  XLV.,  and  Solomon's  Song  of  Songs)  and  to  Jerusalem  as  "the  city 
of  the  great  king  "  (as  in  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  etc.),  have  reference 
to  this  earthly  wife.  The  descriptions  of  the  city  are  sometimes  so  glori- 
ous (for  example,  as  at  Isa.  liv.,  11,  12,  "I  will  lay  thy  stones  with  fair 
colors,  and  lay  thy  foundations  with  sapphires.  And  I  will  make  thy 
windows  of  agate  and  thy  gates  carbuncles  and  all  thy  borders  of  pleas- 
ant stones,")  that  many  have  mistakenly  referred  them  to  the  "New 
Jerusalem."  The  Jerusalem  below  will  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  picture 
of  that  above,  and  they  will  be  brought  into  close  association.  The  inti- 
macy between  them  is  foreshown  by  Isaiah,  who  tells  us  (iv.,  5),  "  And 
Jehovah  shall  create  over  every  dwelling  of  Mount  Zion  and  over  all  her 
assemblies  a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day,  and  the  brightness  of  a  flaming 
fire  by  night ;  for  over  all  the  glory  there  shall  be  (not  a  covering  or  a 
canopy  but)  a  bridal  chamber."  What  is  this  chamber  for  the  bride  ?  It 
is  the  new  Jerusalem,  which  is  both  the  heavenly  bride  and  a  literal  city. 
It  is  to  be  suspended  in  the  air ;  and  to  hang  over  the  earthly  Jerusalem 
that  is  then  to  be  built  and  occupied  during  the  millenium.  At  the  end 
thereof,  when  the  heaven  and  the  earth  are  set  on  fire  and  burned  up, 
the  earthly  city  will  be  destroyed  too.  And  when  the  new  heavens  and 
new  earth  are  come,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  heavenly  city, 
the  new  Jerusalem,  will  tlien  come  down  to  and  rest  on  the  new  earth, 
and  shall  then  be  the  only  city  of  the  name.  On  this  earth  which  has 
been  cursed  because  of  sin  it  cannot  rest.  The  present  heavens  and 
earth  are  not  clean  in  this  sight.    There  is  no  sin  in  matter,  but  sin  de- 


36  The  Ebyelation. 

files  not  onl)'  matter,  but  spirit  too.  There  was  a  material  universe  in 
an  Eden  condition,  before  sin  came ;  and  after  sin  is  expurgated  there 
will  be  another  material  universe  which  will  abide  forever  in  greater 
glory.  The  description  given  of  the  new  Jerusalem  is  literal,  and  not 
figurative.  Each  of  the  foundation  stones  is  a  separate  jewel,  and  each 
of  the  gates  is  a  solid  pearl.  Pearls  and  precious  stones  of  any  size  are 
as  easily  made  by  God  Almighty  as  are  the  coarsest  rocks.  The  horses 
of  heaven  are  those  peculiar  to  that  world,  of  which  we  know  nothing, 
but  which  to  faith  are  real,  notwithstanding.  The  golden  streets  that 
saved  men  will  then  come  in  contact  with,  will  be  righteousness  and  glory. 
There  will  be  no  danger  of  defilement  from  contact  with  aught ;  and 
the  gold  of  that  city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  will  be  transparent  as  glass, 
refined  by  a  process  which  our  goldsmiths  and  chemists  have  not  attain- 
ed. Its  magnificent  proportions,  with  all  its  appointments,  show  it  to  be 
the  product  of  almighty  power  and  wisdom,  and  such  as  we  should  sup- 
pose would  be  made  for  his  people  when  we  read  that  "  God  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  a  city  "  (Heb.  xi.,  16).  It  is  "  the  Father's  house  of  many 
mansions,"  "the  place  he  has  gone  to  prepare "  for  those  he  loves  and 
who  are  to  reign  with  him. 

With  this  new  heaven  and  new  earth,  and  new  Jerusalem,  and  all 
things  new,  and  all  old  things  gone,  forever,  we  have  at  last  the  king- 
dom of  God  come :  that  kingdom  for  which  we  ai'e  commanded  to  pray, 
"Thy  kingdom  come."  A  preliminary  reign  of  king  Jesus  is  had  for 
one  thousand  years,  for  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  pat  all  enemies  under 
his  feet.  This  he  will  not  fully  and  finally  accomplish,  as  has  been  seen, 
till  the  millenium  is  ended,  the  first  Adam's  world  burned  up,  and  the 
new  heavens  and  new  earth  are  come. 

There  are,  of  coiu'se,  many  millions,  probably  hundreds,  perhaps 
thousands  of  millions,  of  individuals  among  the  nations  on  the  millen- 
nial earth  who  did  not  participate  in  the  rebellion  which  Satan  had  in- 
cited and  taken  the  lead  of  on  his  coming  up  out  of  the  abyss ;  and  they 
are  found  on  the  new  earth,  miraculously  preserved ;  and  are  "cleansed" 
from  the  taint  of  their  connection  with  the  first  Adam.  THEY  will  be- 
get children,  under  these  new  conditions,  and  the  race  will  go  on  multi- 
plying, on  the  new  earth,  with  the  blessing  of  God  resting  upon  the 
multiplication  thereof,  which  will  of  necessity  be  prodigious,  so  that  it 
will  fill,  probably,  not  only  this  world,  but  all  the  worlds,  in  time,  that 
are  to  be  created  and  given  to  the  second  Adam  !  This  endless  multi- 
plication of  the  race  is  what  the  prophet  Isaiah  alludes  to  when  predict- 
ing the  grand  results  to  follow  the  vicarious  work  of  Jesus. 

As  a  part  of  Christ's  reward,  he  foretells,  Isa.  liii.,  10,  that  the 
Christ  "shall  see  a  seed  "  which  shall  "  prolong  its  days."  He  asserts 
that  this  shall  be  "the  pleasure  of  the  Lord,"  this  prolongation,  that  is, 
this  endless  midtiplication  of  the  race,  and  that  it  shall  prosper,  in  his 
hands,  under  his  federal  headship,  when  it  is  actually  assumed. 

At  Isa.  XLV.,  IS,  the  Lord  says  that  he  did  not  make  the  earth  in  vain, 
he  formed  it  to  be  inhabited.  If  that  was  liis  plan  in  forming  the  earth 
originally,  how  much  more  natural  it  should  be  his  plan  when  the  new 


Chapter  XIX.,  10  to  the  End  of  the  Book.  37 

earth  takes  the  place  of  this,  and  the  people  are  all  righteous  !    Will  lie 
not  then  say  as  of  old,  "  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  V  " 

It  is  a  necessity  of  the  case.  There  is  a  needs  be,  if  God  would 
recover  and  get  back  and  give  to  Christ  that  DOMINION,  in  its  entirety, 
which  was  lost  in  the  first  Adam. 

While  there  are  many  Old  Testament  passages  referring  to  this,  there 
is  but  one  New  Testament  proof  of  it,  and  there  it  comes  in  incidentally. 
Paul,  in  his  doxology,  at  the  close  of  the  third  chapter  of  Ephesians, 
says  :  ''  Unto  him  be  the  glory  in  the  church  and  in  CUirist  Jesus  unto  all 
the  GENERATIONS  of  the  age  of  ages."  There  is  then  to  be  an  age  of  ages 
and  generations  of  men,  of  course,  throughout  it.  At  Gen.  ix.,  12,  God 
speaks  of  "  perpetual  generations ; "  and  frequently  he  speaks  of  "  all 
generations,"  "generation  to  generation,"  "many  generations."  These 
are  superlative  forms  which  imply  generations  without  end.  At  Ps.  xxii., 
31,  after  declaring  that  the  kingdom  is  to  be  the  Lord's  and  that  a  seed 
shall  then  serve  him  and  shall  be  accounted  to  the  Lord  for  the  genera- 
tion, the  psalmist  adds :  "  They  shall  come  and  shall  declare  his  right- 
eousness unto  a  people  that  shall  be  born."  Which  I  take  to  mean  that 
the  people  of  one  generation  shall  declare  to  the  people  of  after  genera- 
tions and  so  on  indefinitely,  after  the  kingdom  has  become  the  Lord's. 

The  late  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  renders  Ps.  lxxii.,  17,  "His  name 
shall  be  forever;  in  the  presence  of  the  sun,  i.  e.,  as  long  as  the  sun 
shines,  his  name  shall  propagate  itself;  and  by  him  shall  they,  i.  e.,  men 
in  general,  bless  themselves;  all  nations  shall  felicitate  him,  or  pro- 
nounce him  happy."  The  American  Revisers  render  the  second  clause 
"  His  name  shall  have  issue  as  long  as  the  sun."  This  "propagation  " 
and  "  having  issue"  is  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  word  rendered  "  be 
continued."  Under  this  root  Buxtorf  in  his  lexicon  refers  to  this  text 
and  says :  "  He  shall  get  offspring,  his  name  shall  be  propagated,  like  as 
a  family  by  a  continuous  series  and  succession  of  sons  is  accustomed  to 
be  propagated." 

At  Isa.  MX.,  20,  21,  we  see  that  when  the  Redeemer  comes  to  Zion, 
which  is,  of  course,  at  the  beginning  of  the  millennium,  he  makes  a  cove- 
nant with  the  Jews  and  a  promise  that  "  his  words  shall  not  depart  out 
of  thy  mouth,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of 
of  thy  seed's  seed."  And  that  this  cannot  be  limited  to  the  one  thousand 
years  is  seen  by  his  adding  "from  henceforth,"  i.  e.,  from  the  setting  up 
of  the  kingdom,  "  and  forever."  At  Jer.  xxxiii.,  22,  we  read  :  "As  the 
host  of  heaven  cannot  be  numbered,  neither  the  sand  of  the  sea  measur- 
ed, so  will  I  multiply  the  seed  of  David  my  servant."  Does  not  this 
text  suggest,  if  not  prove,  an  endless  multiplication  as  a  part  of  God's 
plan  ?  The  word  which  is  rendered  "  multiply  "  is  the  strongest  word  in 
the  Hebrew  language  by  which  to  express  animal  increase.  It  is  from 
this  same  root  we  have  this  increase  referred  to  at  Isa.  ix.,  7,  namely: 
"  Of  the  increase  of  the  government  there  shall  be  no  end."  But  when 
is  this  increase  to  be  ?  It  is  when  the  government  shall  be  on  his  shoul- 
ders who  is  "wonder,"  "counselor,"  "mighty  God  man,"  "father  of 
eternity,"  "  prince  of  peace." 


38  The  Eevelation. 

Moreover,  it  is  the  seed  of  "David  my  servant"  that  is  to  multiply 
forever.  But  Jesus  has  as  yet  had  no  seed,  nor  will  he  have  till  the  first 
Adam's  headship  is  terminated,  and  his  own  headship  begins.  As  I 
before  intimated,  at  and  from  that  time,  thro'  eternity,  the  endless  multi- 
plication of  the  race  will  constitute  the  seed  of  Christ.  The  vulgar  idea 
that  the  "  elect "  are  the  seed  of  Christ  has  no  support  in  Scripture.  The 
elect  are  sons  of  God  and  hrtthren  of  Christ. 

I  might  adduce  other  texts  in  support  of  the  opinion  that  the  race 
is  to  multiply  forever  in  the  times  of  the  restitution,  but  let  these, 
suffice.  From  prophecy  it  is  clear,  however,  that  (1)  Jesus,  as  son  of 
David,  is  promised  a  seed;  (2)  that  the  church  is  the  bride  and  not  the 
seed;  (3)  that  the  saved  nations  of  Eev.  xxi.,  24  with  their  descendants 
are  by  necessary  inference  the  seed;  (4)  the  direct  statement,  from 
the  texts  furnished,  is  that  the  increase  is  without  end. 

The  angel  then  proceeds  to  show  John  the  river  of  the  water  of  life 
bright  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  In 
the  midst  of  the  street  thereof,  and  on  this  side  of  the  river  there  was  a 
■'tree  of  life"  bearing  fruit  and  yielding  its  fruit  every  month.  The 
leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  service  (not  healing)  of  the  nations, 
for  they  were  already  purified ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  curse,  or 
any  accursed  thing,  and  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb  shall  be 
therein,  and  his  servants  shall  do  him  service  and  they  shall  see  his 
face,  and  his  name  shall  be  on  their  foreheads,  and  there  shall  be  night 
no  more,  and  they  need  no  light  of  lamp,  neither  light  of  sun,  for  the 
Lord  God  shall  give  them  light,  and  they  shall  reign  forever  and  ever. 

We  have  now  in  conclusion  an  epilogue  of  sixteen  verses.  The  vial 
angel  says,  "  The  Lord  God  has  shown  you  things  that  are  shortly  to 
come  to  pass;",  and  Jesus  responds,  saying,  "  Behold  I  come  quickly." 
"Blessed  is  lie  that  keepeth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book." 
Ilis  similar  blessing  is  found  in  the  tliree  verses  of  the  first  chapter. 
The  book  begins  and  ends  with  the  blessing  of  him  that  readeth  and 
heareth  the  words  of  this  prophecy  of  his  coming! 

Then  John  proceeds  to  tell  us  in  the  next  four  verses  how  greatly  he 
was  affected  by  this  revelation.  He  was  about  to  do  that  which  he  w^as 
on  the  eve  of  doing  once  before  when  he  was  restrained,  as  he  is  now,  by 
the  angel,  who  told  him  that  he  was  a  fellow-servant  of  his  and  of  his 
brethren  the  prophets,  and  he  counseled  him  to  "worship  God."  He, 
John,  was  not  to  seal  up  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  because 
the  time  was  at  hand.  And  he  adds :  "  He  that  is  righteous,  let  him 
remain  righteous.  He  that  is  filthy,  let  him  remain  filthy,  and  he  that 
is  holy,  let  him  remain  holy  still." 

Yet  again  Jesus  speaks  from  the  twelfth  verse  on  to  the  end,  re- 
affirming his  "coming  quickly"  and  pronouncing  a  blessing  on  them 
that  wash  their  robes  that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and 
may  enter  in  by  the  gates  into  the  city.  He  would  have  these  things 
testified  unto  the  churches  which  were  existing  at  the  first  stage  of  his 
advent,  and  which  were  to  come  through  the  great  tribulation,  and  he 
says,  "I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,''  that  is,  the  origin 


Chapter  XIX.,  10  to  the  End  of  the  Book.  39 

and  heir  of  the  temporal  promises  to  Israel,  but  more  than  that  I  am 
"the  bright  and  morning  star."  He  comes  as  "the  morning  star"  at 
the  first  stage  of  his  advent,  and  the  watchers  are  translated  to  meet 
him  there.  Subseqiiently  he  comes  as  "the  siui  of  righteousness," 
when  the  harvest  gathering  takes  place. 

And  now  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  bride  say  to  Jesus,  "Come  thou." 
And  he  that  heareth  this  call  is  addressed  and  asked  to  add  his  voice 
and  say  "  Come  thou,"  and  then  the  Jesus  who  had  been  thus  besought 
to  come  gives  himself  an  invitation  to  him  that  is  athirst,  saying,  "Let 
him  come,  whosoever  will,  let  him  come  and  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely."  The  bride  who  has  just  uttered  this  ciy  to  Jesus  to  come  has 
been  formed  for  him  out  of  himself,  as  Eve  was  formed  out  of  Adam. 
He  has  been  waiting  1800  years  for  her,  and  novv^  he  promises  to  come 
as  "  the  bright  and  morning  star  "  to  catch  her  away  unto  himself.  He 
presents  himself  to  her  with  all  the  attractiveness  of  what  he  is,  and  he 
adds,  "  I  have  testified  these  things  to  you.  I  come  quickly."  Then 
another  cry  is  heard,  saying,  Amen,  come  thou,  Lord  Jesus  ! 


And  now,  dear  friends,  we  have  hastily  traveled  together  through 
this  most  precious  book.  We  have,  I  hope,  reaped  some  profit  in  so 
doing.  There  is  no  part  of  the  Bible  that  is  more  profitable  and  pleasur- 
able to  me.  I  urge  it  on  you  to  forget  the  things  that  are  behind  and 
look  forward  to  those  that  are  before,  and  see  these  marvelous  things  by 
the  eye  of  faith  with  a  clear  vision,  and  greet  and  embrace  them  as  sure 
to  come  in  the  near  future.  I  think  it  a  high  privilege  that  we  may  now 
confess  that  although  in  this  world  we  are  not  of  it ;  but  that  Ave  are 
here  strangers  and  sojourners  in  a  country  not  our  own  country;  and 
that  we  are  "  keeping  ourselves  in  the  love  of  God,  and  in  patient  wait- 
ing "  for  "  the  appearing  of  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

I  can  not  close  without  a  few  practical  observations  on  the  topic  of 
this  book,  and  my  single  proposition  is :  Christians  should  be  ever  look- 
ing for  the  coming  of  Jesus,  because  : 

I.  The  Word  of  God  reveals  it.  "  Behold  I  come  as  a  thief."  "  This 
same  Jesus  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go." 
"Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds."  To  make  it  practical,  so  that  you 
may  look  for  him,  it  must  be  believed  that  he  is  coming ;  and  that  it  is 
the  great  event  of  the  future.  Then,  it  becomes  an  object  of  hope.  Those 
who  do  not  believe  it  with  the  heart  can  know  nothing  as  to  what  its 
practical  power  is.  One  who  beheves  in  a  vicarious  blood  atonement, 
has  a  practical  experience,  resulting  therefrom,  which  he  can  not  pos- 
sibly have  who  does  not  believe  it.  So  is  it  with  this  doctrine  of  the 
coming.    Experience  and  practice  are  the  fruits  of  faith. 

II.  It  is  plainly  commanded  as  a  duty :  "  Watch  therefore,  for  ye 
know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh."  "  Be 
patient,  therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord."  "Stablish 
your  hearts,  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh."    He  is  coming 


40  The  Eevelation. 

"to  be  admired"  or  wondered  at,  by  all  his  loved  ones.  Would  you 
shrink  back  from  before  him  if  he  should  come  to-day  ? 

III.  There  is  a  present  and  an  eternal  profit  in  obeying  this  com- 
mand. It  has  the  most  salutary  bearing  on  the  life,  in  that  it  prevents 
Christians  from  setting  their  affections  on  the  things  of  the  vi^orld.  It  is 
the  most  powerful  stimulus  to  a  holy  life  the  Word  of  God  furnishes.  It 
causes  Christians  to  see  the  whole  world  lost  and  lying  in  the  wicked  one, 
helpless  and  hopeless  forever  but  for  the  promise  that  he  comes  again. 
It  makes  us  ready  to  enter  into  a  conflict,  in  his  strength,  with  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  Jesus,  personally,  engaged  in  this  same 
conflict.  He  was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin. 
He  overcame.  He  calls  upon  us  to  overcome  also,  and  makes  large  prom- 
ises "to  him  that  overcometh." 

Finally :  Texts  might  be  adduced  to  show  that  it  will  bring  glory  to 
the  Father.  That  it  is  the  desire  of  Christ  himself.  That  it  is  the  desire 
of  the  Spirit  also  ;  and  should  it  not  be  the  longing  desire  of  the  bride  ? 
See  Jesus  standing  at  the  goal,  holding  out  a  crown  for  each  one  engaged 
in  this  mighty  conflict.  Hear  him  saying  :  "  Come  and  get  it !  ■"  "  So 
run  as  to  win  the  prize."  "See  that  no  man  take  thy  crown,  the  par- 
ticular crown,  I  have  selected  for  you."  I  will  give  a  crown  to  each  one 
who,  when  the  race  is  run  and  the  battle  fought,  has  been  found  to  have 
been  looking  and  waiting  for  me  and  loving  my  appearing. 

As  soldiers  in  this  fight,  through  all  our  encampments  and  from  every 
watch  of  the  long  and  dreary  night  of  our  stay  here,  our  watchword 
should  be  "  maran  atha,"  —the  Lord  cometh  !  Let  us  be  patient  unto  the 
coming.  It  draweth  nigh.  Oh,  it  is  a  precious  theme.  It  never  tires. 
It  lends  sweetness  to  everything  related  to  it.  Eightly  understood,  it 
would  be  seen  to  be  the  church's  only  hope  and  supreme  necessity.  It  is 
the  grand  terminus  toward  which  all  the  varied  movements  of  God's 
providence  are  hastening  onward.  It  will  end  the  church's  conflict  and 
usher  in  her  everlasting  glory. 


